Write 7 page essay on the topic Media technology and society.Download file to see previous pages... The first part deals with setting up a framework for the research. Then prerequisites, which have ma

Write 7 page essay on the topic Media technology and society.

The first part deals with setting up a framework for the research. Then prerequisites, which have made Internet TV technology real from a scientists' sketches, are analysed. Further on the essay devotes to analysing opportunities that are currently available to Internet TV. In conclusion future possible outcomes of Internet TV and related HDTV and ITV technologies are outlined.

The technological development seems to be inevitable. It is within human's nature to strive for more effective management of resources at its disposal. That requires us to answer questions, such as: what do we need to improve, what resources do we have and finally what we must do to achieve the desirable result Such assumption leads us to the first considerable attribute of technological development: linearity. "The time of technological progress is always felt as linear and fundamentally irreversible.... [T]echnological evolution is perceived as unflinching progress toward a state of control over nature" (Doane 1990). Thus, developing a new solution requires following a certain guideline.

It starts with defining needs and goals and continues with trials to determine what technology can be used to achieve them. "In a rational economic world, goals and means are not only separated, but also defined in a stepwise process. It's a world where we first need and then develop the needed solution - how could it be anything else" (Hakansson and Waluszewski 2002) In the following case of Internet TV it is stated that need for more interactive television with better quality of broadcasting was firstly applied to traditional media channels, but then Internet was chosen as more effective technology.

What caused such a change The effectiveness means that current technology answers the given requirements better. But who gives these requirements And is it only a matter of technical feasibility to implement brand new approach to the old problem

Instead of seeing various technologies as spin-offs of scientific discoveries or as the handmaidens to scientific investigations, whatever that may mean, I propose to cast scientific changes as a result of the mutual interactions among scientists working with specific sets of ideas and the various technologies they use and rely on to make those ideas comprehensible and testable in a social context. (Pitt 2000)

Thus the development is determined not only by technical factors. History knows lots of technically effective solutions were rejected through other reasons. Most of them could be summarised into two groups: economic and social, or cultural. The first one implies that, even if a new technology solves the current problem more effectively it still can be unused because of negative economic impact. Paraphrasing in the context of this essay, Internet TV technology has met a serious opponent in the face of traditional TV advertising industry.

Cultural factor is more indirect than the previous one. "Culture plays no significant role in shaping the history of technological development but can only motivate or obstruct progress along a fixed track" (Feenberg 2002). That is, the society must be ready for the change. It is extremely important for the technology to be urgent not only from the problematic side, but also from the side of social readiness.