Complete 12 page APA formatted essay: Communication structure of Australia's.So far transnational communication and use of electronic-based services has been very limited for the great majority of peo

Complete 12 page APA formatted essay: Communication structure of Australia's.

So far transnational communication and use of electronic-based services has been very limited for the great majority of people by physical and linguistic barriers, to remain virtually unaffected. But it seems very likely that as transnational electronic communications and services tend towards a zero marginal cost, their effect on national institutions and organizations will be profound.

Because no extensive replacement of printing has taken place to date, it is tempting for skeptics to suggest that printing is safe from electronic predators. However it might be unwise - the critical technologies needed for widespread use of electronic information are reaching the stage at which they are becoming available to a significant number of people.

This combination of technological and economic pressures is likely to lead to a very sizeable change in all information handling organizations, over the next ten years. We can now reasonably assume that for Australia in ten years time, anyone who is in a position which involves any significant use of information on a day-to-day basis will have convenient access to a global network which provides full information access. This might include messaging and electronic publishing facilities as well as the traditional broadcast receipt capabilities of radio and TV.

The big part of the people living today have led their lives in times when they have been subjected to a very limited number of mass media channels. Many Australians, for instance, read no newspapers at all, and of those that do, very few read more than the same newspaper each day. Until recently, no Australians had access to more than five television channels, and many still have access to only three or four channels. In few places are there more than about six acceptable quality radio stations, and in many country areas people are restricted to one or possibly two stations. It is arguable in any case whether any sizeable audience uses these broadcast media for more than pure entertainment plus, possibly, keeping in touch with happenings of major news interest which is not the same as events of major significance nationally or globally.

But we are in the early stages of moving from an era in which we have had only a relatively small number of broadcast channels controlled by a small number of organizations, to one in which people will be able to choose among a very wide range of sources of entertainment and information - sports channels, news channels, weather channels, talk show channels, etc, etc. While a small number of major media interests will attempt to continue to control the content across all channels, the move from broadcasting to narrow-casting is based on a continuing reduction in the costs of communication, a trend which is inexorable, as it rests on continuing advances in the efficiency of use of increasing cable capacity, and the ability for the radio spectrum to be split up digitally into many more non-interfering channels. Given that this development is also just another example of the move to mass customization and given that content can now be created much more cheaply by small organizations and even individuals, it is