| SERVICES & TECH
- The first public demonstration of the Second Life virtual online world takes place in February 2002. (Second Life’s developer, the Linden Lab company, started in 1999.)
- The Sirius satellite radio network is launched in February 2002. The other major network, XM Radio, was launched in 2001.
- “Weblogs have now crossed a tipping point, leaping from a ‘self-contained community’ to a group ‘large enough that at least there’s many different weblogs, and a million different kinds of weblogs,’ according to Evan Williams, who runs Blogger, one of the most popular services for creating a blog.” (Source: Wired, Feb. 2002)
- The Friendster social networking site is founded during 2002. (In 2003 Google offers to purchase the company for $30 million. Friendster turns down the offer.)
- “The Nielsen/NetRatings firm estimated that the Internet population had risen from a mere 2,000 or so privileged researchers in 1973 to 428 million people worldwide by April 2002. That number can be expected to continue growing in the coming decade, especially as newer, more inexpensive technologies emerge that allow people to carry the Internet with them wherever they go, using cell phones, pagers, Internet appliances, laptops, and PDAs.”
(Source: Encyclopedia of New Media) - One billion personal computers have been sold across the world, according to hi-tech consultancy Gartner Dataquest. Nearly half of all the households in western Europe have a PC. (Source: BBC News, Jul. 2002)
- “Search Engines: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo.”
Pew Internet & American Life Project, July 3, 2002. - During 2002, the BlackBerry smartphone, which supports various wireless information services such Web browsing, text messaging, and e-mail, is released.
- “One Year Later: September 11 and the Internet.” Pew Internet & American Life Project, Sep. 5, 2002.
- As journalism changes so does journalism training. As an example, in the Fall of 2002 the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism becomes one of the first schools to offer a class on blogging. (Related: “The Internet Goes to College: How Students are Living in the Future with Today’s Technology.”
Pew Internet & American Life Project, Sep. 15, 2002.) - Eleven percent of U.S. higher education students took at least one online course. Eighty-one percent of all higher learning institutions offer at least one online course, and 34 percent offer complete online degree programs. (Source: Sloan Consortium)
- In October 2002 the eBay online auction and shopping Web site, which was founded in 1997, purchases the PayPal e-commerce payment service.
- In December 2002 Internet blogs play a major role in bringing about the resignation of Senate majority leader Trent Lott from his leadership position after he made a racist statement earlier in the month.
- “Email at work: Few feel overwhelmed and most are pleased with the way email helps them do their jobs.” Pew Internet & American Life Project, Dec. 8, 2002.
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“Children in the U.S. experienced the equivalent of an adolescent growth spurt in their use of the Internet between 2000 and 2002. Stretching their digital limbs, 65 percent of American children ages 2-17 now use the Internet from home, school, or some other location — a 59 percent growth rate since 2000, when 41 percent of children went online from any location.”
(Source: CPB Report) - Online users remain reluctant to pay for content on the Internet. (Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project)
- With over 60% of Americans now having Internet access and 40% of Americans having been online for more than three years, the Internet has become a mainstream information tool. (Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project)
| | THE MEDIA - News Example:
Jan. 10, 2002 —
“The Enron Scandal.”
(Source:
Poynter’s Links to the News) - News Example: Jan. 23, 2002 — Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan. A short time later a video of his decapitation is circulated on the Internet.
- “The Third Wave of Online Journalism.”
OJR / Web Archive, April 2002. - Google introduces a beta version of its Google News service in April 2002, featuring links to stories from more than four thousand online sources.
- According to the Online News Association’s Digital Journalism Credibility Study Internet users trust portals and aggregators such as Yahoo! News more than local TV and newspaper Web sites, though not as much as national TV and newspaper sites. (Source: American Journalism Review, Jun. 2002)
- “When the (newspaper business) solutions are found, they will be found by entrepreneurs blind-siding us with new technology. Startup costs for news operations are much less than they used to be.” (Source: Phil Meyer, Nieman Reports, Jul. 2002)
- The number of online users being asked to register and pay for Internet content continues to increase.
(Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project) - News Example:
Oct. 28, 2002 —
“Serial Sniper Attacks.”
(Source:
Poynter’s Links to the News) - News Example:
“2002 Elections.”
(Source: Election 2002 Web Archive) - Readership of newspaper classified ads in 67 metro markets surveyed by The Media Audit declined more than 11% in three years. The survey also found that more than 25% of those who regularly read employment ads do so online. (Source: NAA’s Presstime)
- U.S. daily newspaper readership demographics (ages and percent that read daily newspapers) 18-24: 41%; 25-34: 42%; 35-44: 52%; 45-54: 61%; 55-64: 66%; 65+: 72%. (Source: NAA)
Awards - “More than 1,300 North American daily newspapers have launched online services.” “Worldwide, there are more than 5,000 daily, weekly and other newspapers online.”
(Source: NAA’s 2002
Facts about Newspapers) |
