COMPUTER USERS AS MEDIA AUDIENCES

Abstract

This paper draws attention to the changing nature of the range of experiences people currently engage in as computer users. It is argued that computer-based technology is a medium of communication, following similar patterns of development to other media, and employing specific codes of representation and presentation to construct images of the world. It is suggested that the development of increasingly user-friendly programs simultaneously increases access to the medium while distancing users from control of the means to program images. The term computer is used to mean computer-based technology, and the term computer program for the delivered experience of the hardware and software.