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5. What is the role of ICT?
6. How is it possible to change the way of work using the Internet?
7. What kind of partnership does ICT allow for?
8. What new opportunities has e-economy brought for companies?
9. What is the difference between the terms “information society” and
“e-economy”?
10. Summarize the text.
Text 2
THE INTERNET REVOLUTION: IT CAME. IT WENT. IT'S
HERE.
26
By James L. Horton
Sometimes stating the obvious is necessary. The Internet
revolution that came and went in a deluge of losses, foundered
companies, layoffs and broken dreams has not passed. It’s here. It’s just
not in the form that most envisioned, and the riches so many expected
did not materialize. But, for practical purposes, we work in public
relations today in ways we could not envision in 1995 when Internet
growth exploded. And interestingly, the Web, which was supposed to be
the province of a young, hip generation, has proven valuable to a
graying establishment.
It takes an older person to understand how much things have
changed, and it is even difficult for “mature” practitioners to remember
how they used to practice PR. People forget processes easily when they
adapt new ones, and they don’t realize inexorable evolution occurring
around them. The Internet revolution was really one part of a larger
change from the early 1980s – the digital revolution. By 1995, we were
well along in the digital revolution, and worldwide connectivity using a
1969 packetswitching technology was becoming the rocket behind
change. The Internet had been there all along – 10 years before the
personal computer. Few used it outside of uni versities and the
Department of Defense. With development of Web principles in 1991,
the obscure Internet suddenly became connectivity for the rest of us.
Since then, change has been continuous and resistance futile.
In 1995, e-mail was a regular tool, but you didn’t contact
journalists by e-mail unless journalists worked in high-tech. In 1995,
26
Horton L. James The Internet Revolution : It came. It went. It’s here. / James L.
Horton. – Available at : http://www.online-pr.com/Holding/TheInternetRevolution.pdf