ABSTRACT

New interactive technologies are changing the way scholars think about media communication. Two points should be made about technology’s impact on media industries. First, print and broadcast companies can no longer afford to think of themselves simply as print and broadcast companies. Second, the low cost and proliferation of technologies is changing who has access to and control over media content. As computers have allowed the combination and easy analysis of enormous quantities of data, the ability to describe and segment people along a variety of demographic, psychological, and behavioral dimensions has increased. In the electronic distribution of information, perhaps the variety and quantity of information is most evident in the cable industry. Besides the quantity and variety of information content increasing, the communication revolution has seen the creation of new forms or the new packaging of old forms. Cross-training refers to exercises that help an athlete compete in a variety of sports.