September 17th Reaction

For September 17th 2008 the COM430Z class was required to read an article by Jason Whitaker called The Internet: The basics (Chapter 3).

Whitaker starts this chapter off by talking about "Text and hypertext". Stating "…without a standard protocol for transmitting documents using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), the Web would not exist, and without a standard format for creating pages, including the ability to link between them (hyperlinks), web pages would lose a great deal of their usability."(Whitaker, 58). Continuing on in the chapter he jumps into the world of Digital Imaging; explaining how we brought images to the Web and slightly how it works.

Whitaker goes on to tell us that "…broadcasting in the form of digital music and video is only just beginning to take off across the Internet."(Whitaker, 67). Again giving us background information of how we came about the Audio and Video world of the Web and how it works. Further into the chapter Whitaker talks about Web Production, HTML (HyperText Markup Language), Web Design, Elements of a Web Page, and even talking about Colors. He even gives us examples of what layouts would look like in HTML format (Whitaker, 76).

At one point in the chapter Whitaker says "We are now beginning to treat the image with the same suspicion once reserved for the printed word: just as we do not believe the words we read in the papers, so we no longer trust everything we see." (Whitaker, 62). This is an excellent observation that he made. I search the Internet for all types of things including pictures and even videos. Although not everything you see is real. Just as if you were talking to someone you can not trust everything you hear. These days people are using "Photoshop"(A graphics editing program) and other programs like it to edit images. My point being is that even though you might see a picture of something on the Internet, does not mean it is real. I honestly think that Whitaker did not talk about this enough.