Online, Global, and Print Media Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering packet switching, early internet development, web standards, global media theories, journalism ethics, and the history of print communication.

Packet-Switching Network

A communication network architecture where a sending computer breaks down messages into small individual pieces (packets) that travel across multiple interconnected nodes and digital pathways before being reassembled at the destination computer.

Paul Baran

The National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee who designed a distributed communication network in 1964 capable of surviving a nuclear first strike from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Donald Davies

A British researcher who independently developed a public communication network design based on packet switching similar to Paul Baran's work.

ARPAnet

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense as the first workable prototype of the internet, which came online on November 21, 1969, connecting UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UC-Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah.

World Wide Web

A collaborative, noncompetitive information system created in 1989 by British physicist Tim Berners-Lee to make information accessible across different computer systems.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator; the specific address assigned to content placed on the World Wide Web.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol; the standard set of rules used by web servers and browsers for sending and receiving text, graphics, or other material across a website.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language; the programming language utilized to create and format web pages.

Hacker Ethic

A set of values identified by Steven Levy holding that users should possess absolute control over their computer systems, authority should be mistrusted in favor of decentralization, and access to computers and information should be free and unlimited.

Darnella Frazier

A 17-year-old community journalist who recorded the police actions resulting in the death of George Floyd, providing video evidence crucial to securing the guilty verdict of officer Derek Chauvin.

Marie Colvin

An American conflict reporter for the Sunday Times of London from 1985 to 2012 who lost an eye in Sri Lanka and was killed alongside photojournalist Rémi Ochlik by Syrian government forces during the siege of Homs.

Four Theories of the Press

A 1956 normative framework formulated by Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm categorizing world media systems into Authoritarian, Libertarian, Communist, and Social Responsibility models.

Authoritarian Theory

The oldest theory of the press, which asserts that the press must serve as a servant of the government rather than the citizenry through mechanisms such as printing permits and state prosecution.

Communist Theory

A theory of press behavior stating that the media must be owned and operated directly by the government to serve the state's and ruling political party's own needs.

Libertarian Theory

A press philosophy holding that media belongs entirely to the people as an independent observer of government, designed to inform, entertain, and advertise while seeking truth through open discourse.

Social Responsibility Theory

An outgrowth of libertarian theory arguing that the press must fulfill specific obligations of public self-governance, political oversight, and news delivery to prevent corporate or private interests from dominating media.

Alan Wells' Five Dimensions

A comparative framework that rates national media systems based on control, finance, programming objectives, target audience, and feedback mechanism.

Al Jazeera

The largest and most-viewed Arabic-language satellite news network, established in 1997 in Qatar, operating without government censorship to reach an audience of 40 million viewers.

Manga

Japanese comics or amusing drawings originating from 10th-century illustrated Buddhist scrolls, which account for 40% of all published books and magazines in Japan and are read regularly by 95% of its population.

One Piece

The best-selling manga of all time, created by Oda Eiichiro from 1997 onwards.

PIEPA

The historical evolutionary acronym for written communication representing Pictograph, Ideograph, Phonography, and Alphabet.

Ideograph

An abstract written symbol—such as an emoji or instructional sign—that communicates a direct meaning or idea rather than a specific spoken sound.

Phonography

A written communication system where graphic symbols represent specific vocalized sounds.

Papyrus

A primitive reed scroll writing surface developed by the ancient Egyptians around 3100 BCE.

Parchment

A durable writing surface made from treated animal skins that historically replaced papyrus.

Johannes Gutenberg

The inventor whose key contribution of the movable type mold and printing press led to mass book production, famously printing approximately 120 copies of the Bible in 1455.

Book Challenge

A formal attempt by an individual or group to restrict or remove educational materials from a school curriculum or library based on specific objections.

Book Banning

The complete removal of challenged books, literature, or instructional materials from libraries and school curricula.