In contrast, now in the 1990s, as we move into the new millennium, when people communicate on the web and through the Internet, they are not only doing and hearing and seeing the same thing, they also participating, communicating among each other.
And so the notion of village becomes much more meaningful and real in our digital age.
TV was a... or is a one-way medium, whereas the Internet is a... is two-way.
That's right, and there is a crucial difference right there.
Most media in the 20th century, in fact all the major media of 20th century, radio, motion pictures, television, were and are like newspapers and books: one-way media.
The telephone which of course was invented in 1876, is a two-way media.
But it's a two-way personal medium. There's nothing public, or there shouldn't be much public about a telephone conversation.
What makes Internet so different is that it is public but it is also interactive and two-way.
Marshall McLuhan saw a time when everyone would be a publisher. He was referring to the Xerox machine, the copying machine.
Today, we have the Internet which makes everybody an editor and... or makes everybody a publisher but not an editor.
Isn't this a problem when everybody is a publisher but there is not an editor around?
The traditional value of the editor is to, in some way, stipulate and vouch for the quality of the publication or the production.
So yes, there's concern that when anyone can put anything on a web page, you know, there is no safeguard for the quality.
But on the other hand, and there is always another hand, I think the reason why McLuhan celebrated first the Xerox, allowing every author to be publisher,
and why I am now so pleased that the web is even expending and amplifying that, is...there is also the danger of editors keeping out of the mix things that are good.
What the web does is it removes the middle man and allows the creator to communicate directly with his or her audience and on balance I think that's a good thing.
There will be more drivel available, but there'll also be more gems that would otherwise be hidden from public view.