Sound Off

 The first thing to remark in bringing the Internet into it is, in some circles I'm sure, Game Over. Even that lucky or precise find of the Radio National broadcast saved on their page is part of the Internet, a feature of the World Wide Web. 

But that's no fun. 

The next thing to note is that comparing how the Web deals with cross-cultural semantics on Usenet newsgroups, message boards, and social media to radio is useful when looking at the interaction on talk radio and from listeners of a show who are invited to phone in, but is not so all encompassing to be an accurate yardstick. There are a range of views and there is often a mediator but much radio more resembles a static website where there is little or no two-way communication. The typical model for entertainment and educational content is the announcer interviewing a specialist guest. This is the model in our Radio National example.

Similarly the blog is a discourse that mainly flows in one direction with perhaps a few invited comments on each post. LiveJournal presents a round of same while, within the field, Translation Journal is another good source. The subject does lend itself to some worldwide navel-gazing.