Epilogue: The Internet Age | 169that had not been intended and did not accord with the originally planned
goal of implementing data processing in administration, the economy and the
sciences. What had begun in the context of politics, sciences and the economy
once again developed into a vehicle for entertainment, information and social
communication. Also typical was the fact that the new media first adopted the
forms and contents of the old, thus forcing the latter to reposition themselves.
One can already see how the digital revolution has transformed or pushed
aside old media (such as video and music cassettes) and absorbed them into
Internet-based communication via computer.
The Internet is considered to be both the expression of and catalyst for
globalisation. Yet earlier innovations already had the character of reducing the
limits of time and space, whether this was achieved by speedier communica-
tion or by condensation and storage of information. Printed books, periodi-
cals, telegraphy, film, radio and live reports on television – like the Internet,
they all began as transnational media and created new spaces for societal com-
munication and new public spheres. At the same time media history teaches
us not to overestimate the permanence of these ‘border crossings’. The ‘old’
media tended to become more ‘national’ or even more ‘regional’ as they took
root. Even the Internet, which began as a global space for academic com-
munication, is presently being used in ways that show much more national
differentiation (Stegbauer 2008: 8). Just as with the older media, formats and
contents are ‘translated’ and adapted to the users’ own cultures. Just as the old
media did, this tension between transcultural communication and national
adaptation will provide future opportunities for research of cultural idiosyn-
crasies and how they are changed by media influence.
One aspect that is considered completely new is the interactive nature of
the Internet. There is no question that no medium has ever existed before
that allowed so many people to participate in creating contents for public
spaces or enjoy such freedom of selection. The structure and function of the
public sphere, understood as a universally accessible communication space,
have been fundamentally changed by virtue of being so widely accessible. Yet
interactivity was a basic element already present at the creation of many old
media and promoted their dynamic expansion. Even in the early pamphlets,
newspapers and magazines, numerous authors quoted one another, and new
speakers gained access to a newly formed public sphere through these media.
The same is true for early film and radio. The extent to which publishing on
the Internet will become more professional, with stronger editorial control of
important pages, remains to be seen.
Although the Internet represents interactive networking, it is also perceived
as a medium of private isolation, since people are meeting less often in person
to have conversations but ‘virtually’ in the digital world instead. This, too, can
be recognised in the context of media history. New media generally began by