1
The \"shackles\" of linearity are being shed. These shackles traditionally have bound communication into a procrustean bed of predetermined order and a tyranny of writer over reader. Neither the authors nor the structure holds that much authority any more.
2
The organizing principle for routing traffic (\"switching\") has always been a focus of communication research. Switching is, for example, a cornerstone of telephony. In mass media it was called \"gatekeeping\"; in interpersonal communication research, much is made of \"turn taking.\" On the Net, due to historical reasons perpetuated by the discovery of other functions, the organizing principle is to have no organization, or deliberate, orderly, anarchy.
3
All communication is temporally sensitive. Interpersonal communication, once either face-to-face or time delayed, can now be both at once (for instance, the time warps introduced by discussion groups, videoconferencing, IRC, MUD/MOOs, etc.).
4
By ____________ we mean the extent to which communication reflects back on itself, feeds on and responds to the past. Communication on the Net serves to highlight the role of ____________. It can be consciously programmed in or kept out. ____________ is behind the issues of moderated or unmoderated Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) groups. ___________ is an operating force in the allure of IRC and MUD.
5
Text, voice, pictures, animation, video, virtual-reality motion codes, even smell, are all already being conveyed on the Net. What journalists used to call the news hole has simply expanded into an unprecedented sensory vastness.
