Interactive Computing

Interactive computing is found on the Internet, a loose agglomeration of computing networks that enables the user to access vast amounts of information from sources all over the world. The Internet is notorious for being difficult to learn and to traverse, but those who manage to learn can access huge amounts of printed data, images, and even video on a limited basis. As access to the Internet in its various forms becomes more prevalent, including the World Wide Web, Usenet Groups, and bulletin board services through such access providers as America On-Line, Prodigy, and CompuServe, it becomes essential in every aspect of life--business, work, record keeping, communication, and so on.

McLuhan writes that it is a feature of all new media that they incorporate existing media, meaning that "the 'content' of any medium is always another medium" (8). He uses several

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ailable on the Internet so it can be downloaded and read from anywhere in the world at any time, and though the medium falls short of this to date, it still offers an incredible amount of written material. The Internet includes sound as files of all types of recordings can be accessed, downloaded, and played on a home computer, from speeches to the latest music offerings. Many sites allow real-time listening, with radio stations offering a web-version of their feed and sometimes added feeds, much more than any one station could ever put on the air over its one allotted channel. Phonographs are easily transmitted on the Internet, and video and television images are also transmittable in this medium, though currently with less clarity than the normal delivery methods because of technological limitations. These limitations can and will be overcome, though, at which time some believe all television and many videos and movies will be sent to the home over the Internet. Clearly, the Internet is a hot medium that carries elements of all other media within it. One of the theories offered by McLuhan says that "during the stages of their development all things appear under forms opposite to those that they finally present" (34)
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Wide Web, McLuhan Internet, Prodigy CompuServe, Understanding Media, Internet Internet, Communication Internet, Star Trek, Web Usenet, Marshall McLuhan, written word, hot medium, York McGraw-Hill, existing media, world wide web, virtually existing, transmitted internet, wrote book, media incorporate, earlier media, computer system, mcluhan wrote book, internet hot medium, internet includes,
Approximate Word count = 1341
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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