Das Internet. Medienevolution oder Medienrevolution?

Jede neue Medientechnologie löst ebenso Heilsversprechen wie Horrorszenarien aus. Prognosen zur Zukunft einer vernetzten Welt, die im Wesentlichen auf der Plattform Internet basieren wird, beinhalten ebenfalls alle Ausprägungen einer nach oben und unten offenen Bewertungsskala. Dies betrifft die Konsequenzen des Netzes bzw. der Netzwerktechnologie und ihre Auswirkungen auf das politische, wirtschaftliche und soziale Leben in einer vernetzten Welt, vor allem aber die Neuordnungen im Medienensemble. Dass man mit solchen Prognosen bedachtsam umgehen muss, erschließt sich aus einer kulturgeschichtlichen Retrospektive der jeweils zeitgebundenen Bewertungen neuer Technologien und ihrer Zukunftsoptionen. (...) EnglishMiriam Meckel: The Internet: Evolution or Revolution of the Media?The internet will change the structure of our society in forming a network, decentralising existing social structures and in providing continuos access to the most recent facts in an unlimited number of combinations. Due to this networking the search for information is no longer confined to a surface dimension but makes use of the in-depth structure of the virtual environment. Providers and users of information therefore have to do some rethinking: under the conditions of networking, information processing is no longer linear but functions reflexively. Furthermore it is no longer based on stratifi.cational hierarchic patterns but rather on associative cybernetic models. Growing memory capaeitles and extensive information possibilities cause a competition for the attention of the users. Attention as a resource will increasingly determine the development of markets defi.ning themselves through information as a good or information about goods. The established forms of media will continue to exist but they will also have to develop further. The individual interfaces in the networked communicative process will not grow together but will rather further differentiate on the basis of mutual technological platform. The internet and network communication are embedded in an evolutionary process of media culture. As in previous processes of change, similar indicators and factors can be recognised. A revolution of communication does therefore not lie ahead. In contrast, we are facing a continuous and long-term adaptation to partly new conditions of network communication. (...