Материал: 1989

Should video and computer games be included in a definition of mass media? Is “World of Warcraft” a mass medium strictly speaking? Consider the fact that video games certainly

contain messages and ideologies conveyed to users. Users sometimes share the experience by playing online but players of video games are also sharing a common experience when they have played the game separately. It is possible to discuss in great detail the events of a video game with a friend you have never played with because the experience was identical to you both. Are you receiving the same message along with millions of others? Is this mass communication? Experts disagree but once again, the question may soon become disputable as advertisers are looking into placing advertisements as well as product placement into the games themselves.

As digital communication technology continues to expand, exactly what devices constitute a mass medium will undoubtedly continue to evolve and expand the current definition beyond the eight mass media industries.

9.Look through the text once more to find arguments for and against expansion of the mass media list.

10.Fill in the gaps using the following verbs:

turn on, plug in, log off, create, send, install.

1)The battery in my laptop is running out. I need to … it … and recharge

it.

2)I’m going to … an e-mail to my mother, because it’s cheaper than calling her on the phone.

3)Can you help me … this new computer game on my PC?

4)I’m going to … a “birthday” file to store my friends’ birthdays.

5)Your printer isn’t broken – you just forgot to … it … .

6)Don’t forget to … when you have finished using the Internet, or your phone bill will be huge.

Find the antonyms for the verbs above.

11.Find adjectives in the comparative and the superlative in the text below. Use examples from the text to show different meaning of the word “most” as an adverb for making the superlative and as a noun.

12.Find -ing forms in the text below and divide them into two groups: participles and gerunds.

13.Read the text and answer the questions:

1)What is the Internet?

2)What was the Internet originally designed for?

3)What country are most of the Internet host computers in?

4)What is the most popular Internet service?

THE INTERNET

The Internet, a global computer network which embraces millions of users all over the world, began in the United States in 1969 as a military experiment. It was designed to survive a nuclear war. Information sent over the Internet takes the shortest path available from one computer to another. Because of this, any two computers on the Internet will be able to stay in touch with each other as long as there is a single route between them. This technology is called packet switching.

Most of the Internet host computers (more than 50%) are in the United States, while the rest are located in more than 100 other countries. Although the number of host computers can be counted fairly accurately, nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet, there are millions worldwide, and their number is growing by thousands each month.

The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is the system of interconnected computer networks; the Web is the contents, or the interconnected documents, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is

accessible through the Internet, along with many other services including e-mail, file sharing and others.

The Internet consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and governmental networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, reading Usenet news, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.

The most popular Internet service is e-mail. Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network for sending and receiving e-mail messages.

Toward the end of the 20th century, the advent of the World Wide Web marked the first era in which any individual could have a means of exposure on a scale comparable to that of mass media. For the first time, anyone with a web site can address a global audience. Although a vast

amount of information, imagery, and commentary has been made available, it is often difficult to determine the authenticity and reliability of information contained in web pages (in many cases, self-published). The invention of the Internet has also allowed breaking news stories to reach around the globe within minutes. This rapid growth of instantaneous, decentralized communication is often considered likely to change mass media and its relationship to society.

“Cross-media” means the idea of distributing the same message through different media channels. A similar idea is expressed in the news industry as “convergence”. Many authors understand cross-media publishing to be the ability to publish in both print and on the web without manual conversion effort.

The Internet is quickly becoming the center of mass media. Everything is becoming accessible via the Internet. Instead of picking up a newspaper, or watching the 10 o’clock news, people will log onto the Internet to get the news they want, when they want it. Many workers listen to the radio through the Internet while sitting at their desk. The Internet thus far has become an extremely dominant form of media.

As well as being a global network of networks, the Internet is a global network of people, ideas and information. The Net is as interesting and exciting as the people, organizations, companies, governments that are connected to it. The first web browsers only supported simple texts and images, but now a multitude of multimedia plug-ins enables web pages to sing and dance. From PC banking to online shopping and chats with celebrities, the Internet is already changing our lives and further development promises even more exciting things.

14.Say if the statements below are true or false according to the text. Correct false statements.

1)The number of people use the Internet can be counted fairly accurately.

2)All information contained in web-pages is reliable.

3)Most of the people, who have access to the Internet, use the network for online chat.

4)The Internet and the World Wide Web are synonymous.

5)The advent of the World Wide Web allows anyone with the web site to address a global audience.

6)The Internet began in 1973.

7)The number of the Internet users is being reduced.

15.Read the last paragraph of the text and say what reasons made the Internet the center of mass media.

16. Find antonyms for the following words in the text:

local, longest, roughly, disconnected, little, separated, slow, prolonged, the same (channel), outlying (area), inability, automated, falsity.

17. Read some dialogues about the Internet. Then make your own dialogues and act them out in pairs.

Dialogue 1

A:So, which Internet service provider do you think we should buy?

B:As far as I know Business Net is the best. It costs $ 30 per month and they provide a broad connection.

A:Do they give any discounts?

B:Yes, they do, but only if we use the service in all the branches.

A:OK, I have no objections. Should I call their main office?

B:No, we can register on-line and an engineer will come and install the modem and the software next day.

A:That’s very convenient, isn’t it?

B:Certainly.

Dialogue 2

Fay: Hey, Jerry, how often do you use the Internet?

Jerry: Oh, I use it every day! I check my e-mail, read the news, and chat with family and friends all around the world. I love the Internet!

Fay: Yeah, it’s great, isn’t it? Sometimes I stay online for hours.

18.Use one of search engines (for example www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, www.ask.com) to find this information:

1)The title of the oldest newspaper in Great Britain.

2)The American magazine with the biggest circulation.

3)The name of the present-day editor-in-chief of “The Sun”.

4)The feature film that will be shown on BBC1 tonight.

5)The name of one of well-known anchorpersons / news readers on the National Public Radio network.

19.Here are some websites of different newspapers and broadcasting organizations. Visit one of given ones or any other media website and tell your partner what interesting information concerning this mass media representative you have learnt.

http://www.washingtonpost.com

http://www.washtimes.com

http://www.the-times.co.uk

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice

http://www.abcnews.go.com/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/world

http://www.voanews.com

20.Discuss the following passages with your partner:

a)Surfing the Internet is now more popular than watching television, according to new figures. On average, adults in Britain spend more time online at their computers (41.5 days a year) than in front of the TV (37.5 days a year). And experts claim that future computer-literate generations will see an increase in the amount of time spent online. Two in three people (66 per cent) are increasing the amount of time they spend online year by year. One reason for the increase is thought to be that many people can access the Internet at work.

b)The Internet enables you to do a lot of things simultaneously. You can read the latest copy of your favourite newspaper while planning your night’s TV viewing and ordering some cheap CDs from a discount disc store. You can send e-mail to someone you’ve never met before… Some people have “met” over the Internet and got married. Like love and life, the Net is what you make it. If you don’t like what’s happening on one part of the network, you can build yourself a whole new cyber city, appoint yourself as mayor and run it exactly as you want.

c)The latest addiction to trap thousands of people

is the Internet, which has been blamed for broken relationships, job losses, financial ruin and even suicide. Psychologists now recognize Internet Addiction Syndrome (IAS) as a new illness that could cause serious problems and ruin many lives. IAS is similar to other problems like gambling, smoking and drinking: addicts need to use the Internet first thing in the morning; they lie to their relatives about how much time they spend online; they wish they could down, but are unable to do so. Some of the addicts are teenagers who are already

hooked on computer games. Medical experts have also concluded that computers and the Internet are to blame for the increasing numbers of people suffering from sleep deprivation.

21. Sum up the information from the texts above and enumerate the reasons for people increasing the amount of time spent online.