The Internet as Mass MediumThe Internet as Mass MediumThe Internet has become impossible to ignore in the past two years. Even people who do not own a computer and have no opportunity to “surf the net” could not have missed the news stories about the Internet, many of which speculate about its effects on the ever-increasing number of people who are on line. Why, then, have communications researchers, historically concerned with exploring the effects of mass media, nearly ignored the Internet? With 25 million people estimated to be communicating on the Internet, should communication researchers now consider this network of networks [1] a mass medium? Until recently, mass communications researchers have overlooked not only the Internet but the entire field of computer-mediated communication, staying instead with the traditional forms of broadcast and print media that fit much more conveniently into models for appropriate research topics and theories of mass communication.
[22] The Internet as Mass Medium by David S. Buehrle, [3] http://www.netwired.com/blog/archive/archive-1/17/125733-internet-as-mass-medium-concludes-a-lunch-of-notes&utm_medium=y-D8UfQGjZ4
[27] Ibid., p. 17.
[29] See, e.g., David R. Tovino and David J. Y. Heffernan, eds., The Internet As Mass Medium: The New Search for a Science-based Network, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 19.
[33] In 2009, in the lead up to the Internet as a mass medium study, David G. Blume and Peter H. Zwirner conducted a multi-disciplinary and multi-layered project: “The Internet as a Mass Medium by David A. Blume and Peter A. Zwirner.” [2]. See, e.g., Blume and Zwirner, 2009, p. 7.
[35] Nissner and Tovino, 2009 pp. 3, 12; Platz, 2009 pp. 20-21.
[37] Ibid., p. 6 (punctuation added). I have no doubt other large groups such as universities and industry will continue to pursue the mass medium, but they will all attempt better at finding and exploring how this technology exists on their campuses and is likely to grow even more. With all of these ongoing efforts, it is clear to me that at this point, the search for an explanation is really about finding a solid, rigorous, and scientific solution to explain the Internet and to understand how our current technology and information systems are changing lives in ways that are not yet adequately understood by the general public.
[44] Platz, 2009 p. 15.
[45] Nissner and Zwirner, 2009, p. 11.
[46] Pascual-Bosconia, 2009, p. 5.
[47] Blume and Zwirner, 2009 p. 14.
[48] Blume and Zwirner, 2009, pp. 6, 9-15; Platz, 2009 pp. 8-9.
[49] Ibid., p. 16.
[50
[51] Latham-Wiley, 2013, p. 11.
[52
[53] Pascual-Bosconia, 2013, p. 16, p. 6; Pascual-Bosconia, 2013, p. 10; St. Petersburg International School of Business & Technology, January 2, 2014.
[54
[55] See St. Petersburg International School of Business & Technology, January 2, 2014.
[56] Leggett, 2013, p. 12.
[57] Ibid., p. 1.
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However, this paper argues that if mass communications researchers continue to largely disregard the research potential of the Internet, their theories about communication will become less useful. Not only will the discipline be left behind, it will also miss an opportunity to explore and rethink answers to some of the central questions of mass communications research, questions that go to the heart of the model of source-message-receiver with which the field has struggled. This paper proposes a conceptualization of the Internet as a mass medium, based on revised ideas of what constitutes a mass audience and a mediating technology. The computer as a new communication