The rapid development of the Internet is unique in the history of media scholarship. The telephone, press, radio and television industries emerged before media scholarship had been established in academic institutions. But the Internet is quite different. While it has developed in full view of a diverse and a well developed scholarly community, the academic community has been intimately involved in the creation of the tools and applications which have made the explosive growth of the Internet possible. (For example TCP/IP, the World Wide Web and electronic mail had their origins in academic and research institutions.) In one sense it is possible to see the Internet as a creation of the academic community. It was the collective vision of engineering and communication scholars which made the Internet possible. And it is possible to argue that the new commercial applications which are fuelling the rapid expansion of the Internet are being developed by individuals who are applying the skills and interests in networked communication which they had developed as students.

Given the academic community's multiple intersections with the Internet it is appropriate that scholars be encouraged to reflect on the future of the Internet. Whether or not the intimate involvement of the scholarly community in the creation of the Internet makes it easier or harder for them to interpret the Internet phenomenon remains to be seen. But given the rapid evolution of the Internet it will not be long before we are able to test the analyses which are offered in this collection.

Peter B. White
LaTrobe University

Le developpement rapide de l'Internet est unique dans les annales universitaires. Le telephone, la presse ecrite, les industries des medias audio-visuels naquirent avant que les specialistes dans les milieux universitaires se fussent penches sur ces phenomenes. Il n'en va pas de meme de l'Internet. Bien que developpe au vu et au su d'une communaute diversifiee et bien developpee, c'est en fait le monde universitaire qui, charge en grande partie de sa mise au point et de l'elaboration des outils et de leurs applications, a ete a l'origine de son developpement spectaculaire. Par exemple TCP/IP, W3 et le courrier electronique "e-mail" ont vu le jour dans les etablissements universitaires ou les centres de recherche. On peut donc dire que l'Internet est la progeniture du monde universitaire. Ce sont en fait des ingenieurs et des specialistes de la communication qui rendirent possible l'Internet. On peut meme avancer que les nouvelles applications commerciales qui alimentent l'expansion rapide de l'Internet ont ete mises au point par des individus qui mettent en oeuvre les competences et les interets dans la communication sur reseau developpes par eux alors qu'ils etaient etudiants.

Etant donne les multiples points d'intersection de l'Internet dans le monde universitaire, il convient d'inciter les specialistes a la reflexion sur l'avenir de l'Internet. Il reste a savoir si la participation du monde universitaire dans la creation de l'Internet leur permet d'interpreter plus facilement ou plus difficilement les phenomenes de l'Internet. Mais vu l'evolution rapide de l'Internet, on aura tot fait d'apprecier les articles de ce numero a leur juste valeur.

Peter B. White
LaTrobe University

This article argues that the Internet and the emerging networked economy requires careful consideration and critique. The author proposes that public interest theory is a suitable way for analyzing some of the messianic claims accompanying new technology, before suggesting that configuring policy into such considerations is a suitable way forward. By linking policy to public interest theory, it is possible to identify where humanism can be invoked as a suitable objective in computer mediated communications. Examination of the evolution of Internet activity indicates a struggle between the public interest, with its humanist assumptions, and commercializing interests, which are private. The author suggests two alternative models of implementing the Internet have emerged - one where vertical relations based on powerful elites have dominance, depending on their position in the system of relations: the other a horizontal system where public interest and elites work together across recognized, humanistic set of objectives. The author suggests that this latter approach may invoke many of the objectives argued in the critical approach to public interest theory.

While academic approaches to the Internet have highlighted the uniqueness of the medium as a technological form, little attempt has been made to analyse the way it is used in actual social contexts. Based on Raymond Williams' analysis of television as a cultural form, this paper argues that the World Wide Web is best understood as a relational medium. As the Web and the relationships it is employed to realise become increasingly commercial in character, Web publishers need to develop strategies to manage and construct a desirable flow. Trends evolving from the commodification of hyperlinks, such as the emergence of a hierarchy of value amongst Web site genres, disputes over the right to link between Web sites without permission and the development of "push media", suggests that the Web will continue to develop in a manner similar to traditional broadcast media despite its differences as a technological form.

This paper investigates the role of metaphor in the on-going debate concerning internet regulation. It argues that metaphor is not merely a rhetorical ornament in the discourses of media regulation but functions as a conceptual model that legislates and regulates the understanding of technological innovation. Toward this end, the paper not only examines the metaphors currently employed by courts, legislatures and public policy analysts but investigates the implications and consequences of these analogies for the development of future regulative approaches. The paper neither argues for the employment of one metaphor over the other, nor does it naively suggest that one proceed in the absence of metaphors. Rather, accepting that metaphorical thinking is to some extent necessary and unavoidable, it advocates a critical stance with respect to the utilization and circulation of metaphor. In the end, the paper calls for active participation in the on-going debate concerning Internet regulation through attention to the role and rule of metaphor.

Although the rhetoric surrounding the growth of the Internet has emphasized its potential as a revolutionary interactive communications medium, we must also consider the forces contributing to a traditional "mass" media orientation for this new technology. The three primary forces of "massification" are: (a) audience behavior, (b) media economics, and (c) institutional behavior. Analyzing these forces within the context of recent research and developments regarding the Internet indicates that the process of "massification" of the Internet has already begun.