FREEnet (The Network for Research, Education and Engineering)

FREEnet is an academic and research network, interconnecting computer networks of research institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, universities, colleges, and other research and academic institutions. It was established in 1991 by the N.D. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Center of Computer Assistance to Chemical Research. It provides its more than 350 members of the academic and educational community with all types of basic Internet services and various information services.

Strategies and Policies

FREEnets general intention is to become a backbone infrastructure providing:

Open networking services for efficient access to the network and information resources located both in Russia and all over the Internet.

Reliable network connectivity for research, academic and educational communities in Russia and abroad.

Worldwide access to science and information resources of the Russian Academy of Sciences, universities and colleges in Russia.

Assistance to the progress of Russian based fundamental research.

Assistance to the development and application of modern information technologies in education.

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"Project Censored"

Project Censored was launched at Sonoma State University (U.S.) in 1976 as an annual review of the systematic withholding of public access to important news facts by the mainstream media. The team composed of student media researcher and media analysts annually selects and publishes what they believe are the 25 most important under-covered news stories. "The essential issue raised by the project is the failure of the mass media to provide the people with all the information they need to make informed decisions concerning their own lives and in the voting booth". (Project Censored)

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On-line Advertising Revenues

Although Internet advertising only really started in 1994, revenues showed a steady and fast growth. In 1997 US$ 906.5 million were spent on on-line advertising. Compared with advertising revenue for the television industry in equivalent dollars for its third year, the Internet was slightly ahead, at US$ 907 million compared to television's US$ 834 million. 1998 on-line advertising grew by 112 percent to US$ 1.92 billion in revenues, and is on track to hit US$ 4 billion in 1999, which would put Internet advertising at about 2 percent of the U.S. ad market.

Table: Spending on On-Line Advertising by Category

(first quarter 1999)

Category

Percent

Consumer-related

27 %

Financial services

21 %

Computing

20 %

Retail/mail order

13 %

New media

8 %



Table: Types of On-Line Advertising

(first quarter 1999)

Type of Advertising

Percent

Banners

58 %

Sponsorships

29 %

Interstitials

6 %

E-mail

1 %

Others

6 %



Source: Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).

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Sponsorship Models

With new sponsorship models being developed, even further influence over content from the corporate side can be expected. Co-operating with Barnes & Nobel Booksellers, the bookish e-zine FEED for instance is in part relying on sponsoring. Whenever a specific title is mentioned in the editorial, a link is placed in the margin - under the heading "Commerce" - to an appropriate page on Barnes & Noble. Steve Johnson, editor of FEED, says "We do not take a cut of any merchandise sold through those links.", but admits that the e-zine does indirectly profit from putting those links there.

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The Advertising Industry

The advertising industry is dominated by three huge advertising networks, which offer their services throughout the world. Gross income of the three leading agencies is twice as much, as the one of places four to ten.

Table: World's Top 10 Advertising Organizations 1999

(figures in millions of U.S. dollars)

Rank 1999

Advertising Organization

Headquarters

World-Wide Gross Income 1999

1

Omnicom

New York, USA

$ 5,743.4

2

Interpublic Group of Cos.

New York, USA

$ 5,079.3

3

WPP Group

London, UK

$ 4,819.3

4

Havas Advertising

Levallois-Perret, France

$ 2,385.1

5

Dentsu

Tokyo, Japan

$ 2,106.8

6

B Com3 Group

Chicago, USA

$ 1,933.8

7

Young & Rubicam Inc.

New York, USA

$ 1,870.1

8

Grey Advertising

New York, USA

$ 1,577.9

9

True North

Chicago, USA

$ 1,489.2

10

Publicis SA

Paris, France

$ 1,434.6



Table: Top 10 Global Marketers 1998

(figures in millions of U.S. dollars)

Rank 1998

Advertiser

Headquarters

World-Wide Media Spending 1998

1

Procter & Gamble Co.

Cincinnati (US)

$ 4,747.6

2

Unilever

Rotterdam (NL)/London (UK)

$ 3,428.5

3

General Motors Corp.

Detroit (US)

$ 3,193.5

4

Ford Motor Co.

Darborn (US)

$ 2,229.5

5

Philip Morris Cos.

New York

$ 1,980.3

6

Daimler Chrysler

Stuttgart (GER)/Auburn Hills (US

$ 1,922.2

7

Nestle

Vevey (SUI)

$ 1,833.0

8

Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota City (JP)

$ 1,692.4

9

Sony Corp.

Tokyo (JP)

$ 1,337.7

10

Coca-Cola Co.

Atlanta (US)

$ 1,327.3



On the other hand the three biggest advertisers only spend about US$ 2 millions less than places four to ten together. Whereas money spent on advertising in traditional media comes from very diverse categories, companies offering computer hard- and software, peripherals or Internet services mainly pay for on-line advertisements.

Table: Top 10 Internet Advertisers 1998

(figures in millions of U.S. dollars)

Rank 1998

Advertiser

Internet Spending 1998

1998 - 1997 % Change

1

Microsoft Corp.

$ 34.9

9.4

2

IBM Corp.

$ 28.5

58.6

3

Compaq Computer Corp.

$ 16.2

169.8

4

General Motors Corp.

$ 12.7

84.8

5

Excite

$ 12.4

1.5

6

Infoseek Corp.

$ 9.3

22.3

7

AT&T Corp.

$ 9.3

43.5

8

Ford Motor Co.

$ 8.6

46.7

9

Hewlett-Packard Co.

$ 8.1

102.9

10

Barnes & Noble

$ 7.6

280.2



Source: Advertising Age

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Mass production

The term mass production refers to the application of the principles of specialization, division of labor, and standardization of parts to the manufacture of goods. The use of modern methods of mass production has brought such improvements in the cost, quality, quantity, and variety of goods available that the largest global population in history is now sustained at the highest general standard of living. A moving conveyor belt installed in a Dearborn, Michigan, automobile plant in 1913 cut the time required to produce flywheel magnetos from 18 minutes to 5 and was the first instance of the use of modern integrated mass production techniques.

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Assembly line

An assembly line is an industrial arrangement of machines, equipment, and workers for continuous flow of workpieces in mass production operations. An assembly line is designed by determining the sequences of operations for manufacture of each product component as well as the final product. Each movement of material is made as simple and short as possible with no cross flow or backtracking. Work assignments, numbers of machines, and production rates are programmed so that all operations performed along the line are compatible.

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