by Carl Foster
The memorial for the King of Pop takes place today. If media reports are to be believed, elephants, Hollywood stars and Michael Jackson's gold plated coffin will all make an appearance at the venue. Whatever the particulars of the event, one thing seems certain: Jackson's memorial service will be one of the largest live-streamed events the World Wide Web has ever had to cope with.
How the web will hold up remains unclear (although we're about to find out very shortly). When news of Jackson's death was announced, the Internet slowed and some sites, particularly celebrity news sites like TMZ, stopped functioning altogether.
But this is more than the unanticipated, sudden breaking news of the kind that saw the New York Times website on September 11th stripped of almost all its content except a photo and headline. This event, and others like it such as the inauguration of President Obama (and for tennis fans here in the UK, Andy Murray's recent workday afternoon defeat in the Wimbledon semi-finals), tests the very infrastructure of the web. In doing this, the debate over Internet neutrality is intensified. After all, why should there be equality of access to the web when some users are such heavy consumers of bandwidth? That, however, is an argument for another day.
On a more human note, I think a sad consequence of the live web streaming is that more people will watch Jackson's send off by themselves at their computers. One of the positive sides of these major TV events is the 'togetherness' it generates among the audience. Whether it be Princess Diana's funeral or a World Cup semi-final (England hasn't progressed beyond that in my lifetime) standing next to strangers who are experiencing similar feelings is something that cannot be replaced through Twitter or community groups on Facebook. I say, if you're a big enough fan of Jackson to want to watch, get yourself down to a bar or diner and watch it with your fellow man.





