Introduction: On Not Taking the Hyperlink for Granted

Book description: Links are among the most basic—and most unexamined—features of online life. Bringing together a prominent array of thinkers from industry and the academy, The Hyperlinked Society addresses a provocative series of questions about the ways in which hyperlinks organize behavior online. How do media producers\u27 considerations of links change the way they approach their work, and how do these considerations in turn affect the ways that audiences consume news and entertainment? What role do economic and political considerations play in information producers\u27 creation of links? How do links shape the size and scope of the public sphere in the digital age? Are hyperlinks bridging mechanisms that encourage people to see beyond their personal beliefs to a broader and more diverse world? Or do they simply reinforce existing bonds by encouraging people to ignore social and political perspectives that conflict with their existing interests and beliefs? This pathbreaking collection of essays will be valuable to anyone interested in the now taken for granted connections that structure communication, commerce, and civic discourse in the world of digital media. - See more at: http://www.press.umich.edu/297297/hyperlinked_society#sthash.APFUH8ip.dpu

Automated tool for creating hyperlinked video

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-76).There are currently strong motivations within the field of multimedia research to develop systems that can associate information with objects in video and allow users to access this information by selecting the objects using some form of interface. These systems could be used to create a new form of interactive video presentations, known as "hyperlinked video," in which the viewer has a direct role in influencing the content of the video. My thesis presents the schematics for a powerful, yet easy-to-use software tool for creating hyperlinked video programs. It is based upon a process for automatically tracking and segmenting video objects at a pixel-level. In addition to object tracking, this tool helps authors manage the various properties involved with a hyperlinked video production, including relevant video information, object data and "link" information, such as actions associated with each object. Unlike comparable tools, this system employs novel techniques to further automate the authoring process by recognizing the identity of objects in new sequences. The system was employed in the creation of two innovative hyperlinked video applications, one with a commercial focus and the other an educational focus.by Jonathan Dakss.S.M

Voice Link : a speech interface fore responsive media

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66).This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.We developed VoiceLink, a speech interface package for responsive media applications. It contains a set of speech interface modules that can interface with various multimedia applications written in Isis, a scripting programming language created at the MIT Media Laboratory. Specifically, we designed two command-and-control voice interfaces, one for iCom, a multi-point audio/video communication system, and another for HyperSoap, a hyperlinked TV program. The iCom module enables users to control an iCom station using voice commands while the HyperSoap module allows viewers to select objects and access related information by saying objects' names. We also built a speech software library for Isis, which allows users to develop speech aware applications in the Isis programming environment. We addressed a number of problems when designing VoiceLink. In the case of the iCom module, visual information is used to seamlessly inform users of voice commands and to provide them with instant feedback and instructions, making the speech interface intuitive, flexible and easy to use for novice users. The major challenge for the HyperSoap module is the open vocabulary problem for object selection. In our design, an item list is displayed on the screen upon viewers' request to show them selectable objects. We also created an object name index to model how viewers may call objects spontaneously. Using a combination of item list and name index in the HyperSoap module produced fairly robust performance, making the speech interface a useful alternative to traditional pointing devices. The result of user evaluation is encouraging. It showed that a speech based interface for responsive media applications is not only useful but also practical.by Yi Li.S.M

Scale free information retrieval : visually searching and navigating the web

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. [91]-92).Daniel Ethan Dreilinger.M.S

Communications Policy, Media Development, and Convergence

In the deliberations of scholars, policy analysts, and policy makers, television has exceptional power and influence. Yet the historical record shows that television has not changed the economics of attention for large populations in the course of their daily lives. By the mid- 1920s, print media alone were highly successful in creating new consumer visions and aspirations, building national brands, and establishing significant brand equity. The advent of radio and television did not change total advertising spending as a share of total economic output, nor did it change significantly total advertising spending per adult media hour. The contrast between communications policy and the reality of media development is not merely a fluke or just ironic. It points to a major impediment to the development of information societies. State- owned-and-controlled media can be an important policy lever for overcoming this opposition and promoting the growth of more diverse media environments and more diverse ways of interacting with media.media, communications, advertising, time, e-government, regulation, reading, newspapers, television, radio

Exploring News Environment, Interface Usage, and Gratifications in Real-time Internet News Browsing

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Quality Uncertainty And Adverse Selection In Online Sponsored-Search Markets

Sponsored-search mechanisms, where advertisers bid for better placement in the listing of search results on Yahoo! and Google, have emerged as the dominant revenue model for online search engines. Interestingly, Yahoo! and Google employ different mechanisms to determine the placement of bidders’ advertisements. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the research relating quality and advertising in traditional markets to the online setting, and also examine whether intervention by the search intermediary impacts the outcomes observed in these markets. Using data from online sponsored-search auctions, we examine the relationship between advertisers’ quality and their advertising-intensity, indicated by their willingness to pay for search listings. We assess how this relationship differs across search, experience, and credence products characterized by differing degrees of quality uncertainty as well as across the two markets. We find significant differences in the quality-advertising relationships across the three product categories as well as across the two market mechanisms. We discuss the implications of our findings for consumers as well as intermediaries, and provide directions for future research in this emerging context

Beyond Open Access: A Framework for Openness in Scholarly Communication

FSW - CWTS - Ou