Compare and Contrast (Score 2)

I do think you imply in your first post that news is the most significant purpose of the Internet, or perhaps the most useful one. And I'm not sure I see what argument you're making with your "simply another communications medium" comment - implying perhaps that all communications media are created equal and this one is not especially differentiated from the others. I think that's a disingenuous assumption. The Internet is more versatile and far-reaching than any communications technology that has come before in terms of the types of information it can deliver and to whom, far more so than print media, radio, or TV. That's a pretty solid fact. And as I was saying, the ways people interact with the information on the Internet differ significantly from the ways people interact with "old media" - they have the option of either saying "uh-huh" or changing the station or channel or turning the page. Allow me to illustrate. Perhaps you and I both watched the Academy Awards on Sunday. Perhaps you got fed up with the ebulient Roberto Benigni about the time he was climbing over people to get his statue for Best Foreign Film and flipped over to CNN. Perhaps I got a kick out of him and stayed to watch the whole show. That's about the sum of the comment we can make on the Academy awards. No one asks us whether we think Roberto Benigni deserves an award, or whether Whoopie looks good in feathers. Then, this morning you and I both read an article by someone named Jon Katz. You disagreed with its premise - then instead of leaving you said so. Not to youself, but to hundreds, maybe thousands of people who will see your comment. Probably the author himself will see it. I saw it. Now, I have been following Jon Katz around the web for some time now and am rather fond of the guy, I've even emailed him a couple times (try emailing Whoopie). I wanted to respond to the article too, in support of it, and did so by flaming you. So a conversation started. Every damn person that reads the original article can read what we have to say about it if they so desire. Try getting yourself as big a potential audience as the emcee at the Academy Awards. You don't think that changes anything? Some people argue that it doesn't really because Katz's article is still at the top of the page. Well, do what so many other people have done - make your own page. The personal website is not dead, and those which have had some effort put into them and provide content people want to look at can get some pretty respectable hit counts. Regarding the personal site, unquestionably the web has become more commercialized and centered around corporate mega-sites (go.com anyone?) but the fact that people *can* publish pictures of their cat to the entire world ensures without any reasonable doubt that they *will.* And by golly other cat lovers will surf in and coo at how cute Fluffy is.
Back to news again, you're still looking at it from an extremely narrow angle. Let me explain again. Perhaps I am getting some of the same AP newsfeed you are, but from there I can go to any of a million supplementary sources and take my understanding of that piece of news in any direction I want. *I* control the way I experience it. The way to use the Internet effectively to acquire information is not to visit one site, but to travel, to surf. Wired News (not actually a general news publication BTW, but focused on particular types of news) may give you an article summarizing an issue, then give direct links to company websites, etc. where in many cases the ordinary reader can get further information straight from the horse's mouth - from the newsmakers.