The New Programmers A major reason that traditional media were dominated by institutional programmers was the cost of access. The Internet has changed all that. This change has the capacity to reverse the traditional Tag Heuer Replica(http://www.rep1ica.com/GoodsBrand/Replica-Tag-Heuer-Watches-65.html) flow of information and entertainment from the wealthier countries to the poorer ones. A programmer in India has the same capacity to communicate on the Web as one in New York City. The democratization of production is evident as well in the advent of reviews of books by readers as well as professional reviewers. Creating information requires access to information. Proximity to a large library or to a storehouse of interpersonal influence was once a prerequisite for most research, a fact that professionalized that activity. Whereas you or I would have trouble getting a quick appointment with former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, we can retrieve health information from him at www.drkoop.com. When the federal government provided access to MedLine and Healthfinder, comprehensive archives of scholarship about medicine, it increased the likelihood that a person would arrive at a doctor's office armed with information drawn from the most recent clinical trials. At the University of Pennsylvania, one of Jamieson's colleagues found answers on the Web that had eluded doctors. After being stung by an unidentified insect, his arm began to swell. His doctor didn't recognize the bite and was concerned about the symptoms associated with it. The professor who had been bitten turned to the Web, and on a Web site about insect bites, he found pictures that looked much like his bite. This led to a diagnosis and an appropriate medical response. Whereas the traditional media have always relied on institutional suppliers for their content, the Net is proving to be fertile territory for those who want to originate news or images. Because the Web is unregulated, anyone who wants to start a news station on it requires only the technical expertise to do so. Those who wish to communicate their own lives or favorite vistas to the world can just hook up a Webcam, a video camera attached to their computer. In mid-1999, one directory of Webcam listed more than 5000 sites, a number that has doubled annually for three years. Want to learn about life in college? A number of students are transmitting their lives in the dorm twenty-four hours a day on their own Webcams. Some of the results have been unanticipated. In 1998, "Ryan Scott, 21, had a seizure... in his dorm room at Southern Methodist University in Dallas." His Webcam was on, making it possible for his girlfriend Omega Replica Watches(http://www.rep1ica.com/GoodsBrand/Replica-Omega-Watches-51.html) to see it happen. "She alerted Scott's mom, who called campus officials. Paramedics arrived in Scott's room just as he was coming to. He says the alert may have saved his life." Webcams can also provide access to images that help us manage our day-to-day lives. Before heading off to work, don't wait for a traffic report from local broadcast news; instead, dial up a Webcam showing traffic on the highway that worries you. Feel like getting away from the summer heat? Dial up the Webcam that watches Mount Everest.
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