By Barbara McGuire
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Though our present world may not be as technologically evolved
as movies like “Back to the Future” predicted,
technologies such as flying vehicles and artificial intelligence
are not that far off from becoming reality.
For instance, imagine this: Instead of enjoying a relaxing
evening with your family in front of your 30′ screen
television, you now have a 30′ screen computer. Your dad
downloads, in seconds, various shows that the family wants to watch
that night. Reruns of old shows are available and if you’re a
few minutes late, no big deal, the show doesn’t start until
you want it to. Anything anyone’s heart desires is just a
click away.
At the rate technology is improving, driven in large part by the
entertainment industry, such a techno-twisted “Beaver
Cleaver” image is an omnipresent possibility.
Over just the past few years, the Internet, as well as computer
technology in general, has exploded. Though after the innovation of
the television, which took over the programming of the radio, it
seemed as if nothing new was possible, the entertainment gurus of
the world have once again struck gold.
Josh Wexler, CEO of thethreshold.com, a male focused
entertainment destination, feels the Internet is becoming just
another every day commodity, as well as the most pervasive
entertainment medium.
“The Internet is certainly another delivery medium for
obtaining entertainment,” Wexler said. “Imagine if you
will, what the radio was to your grandparents, television is like
to us, the Internet is going to be like for our kids ““ how
they obtain information and entertainment.”
UCLA has kept its head above water when dealing with the fast
pace of internet technology, not straying far behind popular
trends. Not only has broadband and ethernet technology been
integrated into all on-campus locations, including the residence
halls and labs, but also the basic runnings of campus, such as
registering and paying bills, have been switched over to the
Internet.
All UCLA courses have been given a Web site, as well as all
approximately 500 student groups and organizations, further
increasing UCLA’s dependency. Students can find sample tests
on their class Web sites and often can pick up grades on test
scores there as well.
“(UCLA) started providing every student organization with
their own Web site three years ago,” said Kenn Heller,
associate director at the Center for Student Programming. Heller
believes that Internet technology is taking major steps everyday,
mainly due to entertainment pressures.
“Next year, we will be moving into a new arena where each
(student organization) will be having a Web site that they really
don’t even need to know how to design,” Heller said
about UCLA’s continually improving its internet
applications.
Heller believes that Internet use by UCLA students for amusement
has definitely increased within the last few years, mainly due to
the fact that all students are somewhat forced to use the Internet
for various courses. What he believes has happened, however, is
that through such an introduction, students eventually began
branching out and using the Internet willingly and enthusiastically
for other purposes, especially entertainment.
“My inclination is to say that the usage pattern is more
for entertainment and for personal use because when you say
“˜the Web,’ you have to include all the pieces of
it,” Heller said. “But, realistically, every survey
that has been done nationally, and usage patterns are such that
there is substantially more (Internet) being used in the
entertainments and for personal (reasons).”
Graduating senior Karen Olaes, a psychobiology student, follows
a similar pattern, using the Internet for various entertainment
purposes, such as e-mail, as opposed to the academic motivations
the campus originally installed it for.
“Before (coming to UCLA) I never used it,” Olaes
said. “The dorms was my first introduction to the
Internet.”
Chatting online is an aspect of the Internet, much like e-mail,
which has gained popularity within the past few years. Especially
enticing to many students is America Online’s (AOL) Instant
Messenger which anyone can access, not just AOL subscribers.
Rob Steiner, a representative of netthistv.com, an internet
television broadcasting company which highlights various genres of
entertainment ranging from comedy to documentaries, has also been a
witness to the increasing power of the Internet and its chatting
capabilities.
“I’ve personally been a chat addict on Yahoo for
three years now, and I’ve seen how the type of people
I’ve notice now online has changed from primarily 20 and 30
somethings to teens looking to chat with other teens around the
world,” Steiner said. “This gives kids such a great
opportunity to learn about other cultures straight from the source,
that I never had growing up in the ’70s and
’80s.”
Currently, the Napster music sharing program is under
controversy over what should be legal to download from the
Internet. It is a heated issue when dealing with the Internet.
According to Heller, UCLA has no official stance on whether or not
they are going to take action against Napster, as many universities
have done, such as UCSD, setting up a firewall to block all use of
Napster.
“I know that initially, a short time after (Napster) was
introduced, there had been some discussions and for a short period
of time there had been some blocking,” Heller said.
“Not from the legal standpoint, but from the standpoint of
resource strain because it does slow down the system.”
“As far as “˜Is there an official university policy
that says you may not run Napster, you may not run Scour?’
that currently does not exist,” he continued.
Aubrey Cox, a physics student who is graduating this quarter,
feels that the demise of Napster is imminent, though
heartbreaking.
“It’s bound to happen at some point,” Cox
said. “There’s so much illegal pirating that’s
going on, it can’t go on forever. Clearly something is going
to have to happen as far as that goes. I wish music was free, but
the musicians have to get paid.”
Most, however, believe that further evolution of the Internet is
needed to make a program like Napster a legal possibility.
“The downloading of digital music is obviously the hot
topic right now,” Steiner said. “It all happened so
fast that there were gapping holes in the rules and technology that
allowed the pirating of music to happen.”
“Some major artists claim it’s hurting their revenue
and some say it’s helping, so the jury is still out on that
one,” he continued. “I think the record companies
should really grab a hold of the Internet instead of fearing it and
start selling the music online as they would in the
stores.”
Even now, after the Internet has made massive breakthroughs in
the way in which entertainment can be obtained as well as the way
it is perceived, some feel it is still something to be weary of.
Just as television suffered its “Red Scare,” so must
the Internet.