Web media

Web Media

Curt Cloninger defines 'media' as the ways in which information is passed between people.

There are 6 media characteristics of the web. There is no single characteristic that defines or is unique to the web. However, the web is the only single medium that incorporates all six.

These 6 characteristics are:

- Many-to-many networking: is where multiple users are contributing and receiving information, with the information elements often interlinked across different websites. Examples of this are file sharing and blogs.

- Multimedia: Computer games, websites and DVDs combine text, sound, images and video to present information.These text, sound, image and video are known as multimedia components.

The combination of these components is multimedia and it can be used to convey information to people effectively. 

- Database: It is a structured set of data that is held in a computer, especially one that is accessible in various ways. The internet allows its users to store, search and extract information.

- Automation: It is a system of operating or controlling a process through a automatic means, mainly by electronic devices, which results in human intervention to be minimized. The internet is automatic and needs only limited human interference.


- Live/Time-Shifted: This is the recording of a program to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to after the live broadcasting. The internet allows an individual to view items live or in 'real time', or it can be saved and viewed to be seen at a later date.

- Location-Independent / Device-Independent: The internet allows its user to be free to access the internet through multiple devices and in different locations e.g. internet can be viewed on phones and laptops, it can be used at home or outdoors such as a park