[1] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

push media
     
         a model of media distribution where items of
        content are sent to the user viewer, listener, etc. in a
        sequence, and at a rate, determined by a server to which the
        user has connected.  this contrasts with pull media where
        the user requests each item individually.  push media usually
        entail some notion of a "channel" which the user selects and
        which delivers a particular kind of content.
     
        broadcast television is for the most part the prototypical
        example of push media: you turn on the tv set, select a
        channel and shows and commercials stream out until you turn
        the set off.
     
        by contrast, the world-wide web is mostly the prototypical
        example of pull media: each "page", each bit of content, comes
        to the user only if he requests it; put down the keyboard and
        the mouse, and everything stops.
     
        at the time of writing april 1997, much effort is being put
        into blurring the line between push media and pull media.
        most of this is aimed at bringing more push media to the
        internet, mainly as a way to disseminate advertising, since
        telling people about products they didn't know they wanted is
        very difficult in a strict pull media model.
     
        these emergent forms of push media are generally variations on
        targeted advertising mixed in with bits of useful content.
        "at home on your computer, the same system will run soothing
        screensavers underneath regular news flashes, all while
        keeping track, in one corner, of press releases from companies
        whose stocks you own.  with frequent commercial messages, of
        course."  wired, march 1997, page 12.
     
        pointcast http://www.pointcast.com is probably the best
        known push system on the internet at the time of writing.
     
        as part of the eternal desire to apply a fun new words to
        boring old things, "push" is occasionally used to mean nothing
        more than email spam.
     
        1997-04-10
     
     
see also:
server pull media world-wide web internet screensavers lt;pointcastgt; spam 

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