Sterne/Internet

After reading Sterne’s article concerning the Internet, I also came away with the feeling that the author wrote a lot, but said very little of his own thoughts, instead quoting source after source to try to explain the Internet and how he thought that someone should write a cultural studies book like Williams’ Television, instead of writing that book himself.

One thing that Sterne pointed out that I did agree with, though, was that cultural studies scholars would have to begin studying several different types of media in different environments. People today use several different types of media to help them stay informed throughout the day, and this kind of relates back to our first reaction paper about what kind of communication technology we should be studying. Users can access the Internet, text or make calls, or watch streaming media like television shows all from their cell phone.

Some points in Sterne’s piece that I want to comment on was when he talked about how easy it would be for someone to get online and what being online actually means. Although the article was written almost a decade ago, times have changed now and it is very easy for something to get a cheap machine that gets them online and is capable of handling most, if not all, web sites and basic applications, like word processing, well. Also, I think that someone could be considered as being online if they are using any application that involves the Internet in anyway, whether it be surfing the Internet, downloading music, or simply sending e-mail. Any of those actions require the use of an active Internet connection, so that means that the user is in fact online. So there you go Mr. Sterne, you’re now that much closer to writing that cultural studies book that you want.