Today, we’re talking about Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message.” Below are resources for today’s class followed by the after-class writing assignment.
Friday, March 15 is the deadline for the Literary Arts Festival Writing Competition! Get your work submitted! It is a great opportunity for everyone–you don’t have to have an aspiration to be a professional writer. It is a good opportunity to have your writing recognized and add strong evidence of your writing skill to your resume.
Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the World Wide Web. The first publicly hosted webpage is here:Â http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/History.html.
AFROFUTURISM FLYER
After class today, write at least 250 words summarizing your reading and our discussion of Marshall McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message.” As a part of your writing, please include some examples from your own experience that explores how a given medium is the message over the content conveyed within that medium. Post your writing as a comment made to this blog post before our next class.
In Marshall McCluhanâs âThe Medium Is the Messageâ, the idea of how a medium is interpreted raises questions of how humans and technology communicate in this technological era. McCluhan believed that through âcontentâ there will be no obvious answer when it comes to understanding what is going on through plays or movies which are prime examples of our digital media. In this technology perception, the key into capturing the full picture of what a director may be trying to have their audience discover is only through the manifestation of how innovative one can be with the camera. In the passage it states, âWhat is the content of speech?,â⌠It is an actual process of thought, which is in its self nonverbal.â (McCluhan, 1964, p. 1) Through this explanation it is here we find that the message for a medium is influenced by the change of pattern where humans take over. Humans have impacted cultures since early civilizations, but what has been achieved is the ability for humans to create major cities and transportation technology advancements.
Through perception, it has played an integral role in the way that we do things evaluate an artistic piece of work whether it is in a literature format or digital one the medium has dominated the way we view these ideas with our mind. To humans, nothing is ever obvious because our minds have not been constructed for us to see something in just one way. Universality, still influences how our mind would construe a new philosophy or technological advancement because we are applying a form of logic to these individual thoughts.
Another point that was focused on was typography and Alexis de Tocqueville, a French diplomat and political scientist, was the first to master the grammar of print and typography. Typography had three characteristics which were, uniformity, continuity and lineality. Tocqueville uses political theory to show why he stood alone in his position because no one else could come close to his typography mechanism and understand what structures are being developed through his critique.
Literacy and orality is played out as well through the content and medium platform. Arnold Toynbee uses a concept called âetherealizationâ to discuss the transformation of power in media. He introduces the Narcissus fixation where one has an obsessiveness for themselves and the way they are perceived by others. Toynbee emphasizes that his ideology is an ongoing challenge in this new technology age because this is what gravitates individuals through the media. The medium in this culture we have, has created such a society that it has become very difficult for many to comprehend why we have allowed technology to impact who we are as individuals. Psychologically and socially we have allowed the technology world to impact us on a deeper level to a point where our mind has applied these inner thoughts in our sub consciousness to believe that we are programmed this way.
In my own experience with social media particularly with Instagram and LinkedIn, the medium generated between these two platforms I have managed to use both for my self-promotion for employment and pictures to show professionalism. The content behind my profile is to create an image where a potential employersâ perception of me would be what they consider as an ideal candidate for their company. Professionalism physically should be perceived in both a physical approach and through the media images you upload through pictures along with videos. Content is very important for both media platforms because believe it or not they convey a story about who you are. The hobbies you enjoy and the person you are through interactions with other individuals. We look to this media to see how people would view us through a like or a comment, but nevertheless our goal is to create an image that would have an impact on others.
Marshall McLuhanâs âThe Medium is the Messageâ is the way a human understands different technology is presented to them over time. The way McLuhan interpret medium in his article is they contain our personal and social consequences that become an extension, affairs, and the new technology in our lives. In the reading, it said, âThe new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs it is true.â This is trying to tell us that we become so attached to our technology and when it comes to going for a job interview we forget how to communicate with the person in front of us. He also talks about the message and unless we are spell and using full sentences and not using an abbreviation in the message, we are sending out to people. This reading really gives me a better understanding about how human and technology are connected and that our language is expanding but we donât see it because we’re so caught up on the new technology that always comes out. We tend to care more about learning the new programs in the technology in language. He also brings up Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare where his language is very different from the way we’re speaking now. It might sound very weird to us but if looking at it from a different perspective and looking at it from the author you can have a better understanding of why this writing it is the way it is. McLuhan wants the reader to take from this reading is that if you take something away from humans like the technology they might not know what to do because they rely on them so much that they cannot live without their technology?
In Marshall McLuhan, âThe Medium is In Marshall McLuhanâs he is trying to send you a message about the new âmediumâ which is basically the new technology and media. The medium is any extension to ourselves with the new technology forms. The âmediumâ is is a phrase made by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in any message it would transmit or convey, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.He explains that we need to look out for all the new technology. But says that all ânew media is old mediaâ basically saying look out even though they are all the same. In the article he saysâ âThe new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs it is true.â The more and more technology that’s made is whatâs cause people to lose their jobs or not get jobs. We use technology so much that we forget how to communicate with people when it comes to a whole bunch of different things. McLuhan really shows you how technology is connected to our human language and the way communicate altogether. There is so much language that we don’t know and it just goes over our heads because we are so focused on what technology is showing, also telling us. He really wants us to show us that we need to stop relying on social media, technology or anything online to learn about language we just need to learn from books, and other things in that specific category. Everyone should read this article and get an understanding because what he’s saying is very true.
In Marshall McLuhan, âThe Medium is the Messageâ he interprets that to mean, âthe personal and social consequences of any medium â that is , of any extension of ourselves, result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves or by new technology.â McLuhan also speaks about how automation has eliminated jobs. He tends to say that automation creates roles for people. âThe new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs it is trueâ. This right here is a major FACT! Humans are so adapted to having technology all around them and they tend to forget how to write of express themselves because they are used to technology doing it for them . Whether it’s emojis or gifs, this related back to everything that was being said since the first day of class. We change technology and in return technology changes us. But technology has ruined us. As Marshall, I do agree that itâs not the machine that destroyed us , it was the people behind building the machine or technology.McLuhanâs main point were that, The message is the effect of a technology or medium on human affairs. His second main point is Figure/ground. He states that figure tends to get to pay attention first and the ground is what happens in the background in which we don’t pay attention to. The figure in today’s world would be Facebook or social media or even automobiles, the parts we don’t pay attention to is the internet that supports the social media. We don’t pay attention to the warehouses or factories that makes the automobiles. In this passage, they also mention typography which is defined as , â the style and appearance of printed matter. This article/book is very interesting and has many points that we aren’t even aware about. We need to be more self conscious about what we do and how we do things.
Marshall McLuhan believed in the aphorism ” The medium is the message,” This means that the way we acquire information affects us more than the information itself. In 1959 McLuhan introduced his idea of macro myths, language as a model. It is also when he first introduced the phrase ” The medium is the message.” McLuhan defines medium as any technology that is an extension of ourselves. Humans simply using technology as a tool to extend our capabilities and enhance efficiency. McLuhan focused on the medium of communication, especially those that are electronically powered (Smartphone, Computers, etc.) and sees them as unifying elements in modern media. McLuhan believed that language is a technology. The medium of language extends our thoughts internally and is spoken out to others in conversation. One can call it a sensory reverse; our senses generally bring the world into our minds, while speech transfer it out to the world. McLuhan suggests that any initial content of new mediums has derived from a preexisting medium. An evolution of mediums, for example, Brick phones lead to pagers, flip phones, and smartphones. McLuhan also began exploring the relationship between the past and the present ( The future is a thing of the past). He believed in the Diachronic approach, which is when one focuses on the interplay of historical events and language changes. Mcluhen thinks that everything in the past makes present and future possibilities.
Thinking about the message sent through a form of communication is what we usually do when we read a text message, read an email, or play a song on a device. This isnât what Marshall McLuhan wants you to focus on. Rather, the medium by which you receive the text message, read an email or hear a song is the message. In âThe Medium is the Messageâ, this is what he establishes. A medium is any tech that is an extension of ourselves, whether that be tools, language or nowadays, software. It is what allows us to express our sensory output, rather than just use our senses as an input. The reasoning behind what McLuhan describes as a medium is of one that is comprised of old mediums. Twitter, for example, is a social media networking service, where we can âtweetâ or make small statements to express thoughts and opinions. To McLuhan, anything we express in said tweet isnât the message, rather the medium, Twitter itself, and what it is composed of. Twitter works because we have internet and the World Wide Web, and if we didnât have such thing as language, where we can write, it wouldnât exist either. We focus on what isnât obvious, rather than the obvious. We can also layout what a medium is by using a tetrad, where we make a large box consisting of four mini boxes. There, we discuss what the figure and ground of a medium are. What of a medium jumps out at us is the figure, while the context surrounding the figure, by which we can understand what the figure is doing, is the ground. The biggest lesson we can take away is that the medium, by which we get our information from, turns out to be a ground, or context, for the figure.
Herbert Marshall McLuhan CC was a Canadian philosopher who studied at the University of Manitoba and the University of Cambridge. His work is one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. Marshall McLuhan wrote, âThe Medium is the Messageâ where he explains how important it is to be mindful of the media even the news it presents seems âoldâ. New media is always old media being rephrased and re-emphasized. The word âmediumâ is created by Marshall McLuhan which explains that the way the medium itself understands and portrays its ideas/messages is a unique style where it affects the society which it plays a part in. The content it presents should not be the primary focus but the way the medium itself carries should be acknowledged. McLuhan discusses the issues with âautomationâ which is the use of largely automatic equipment in a system of manufacturing or other production process, and how it has came to be problematic in society because it has taken over the jobs of regular working people. Now a days with the help of technology (robots, machines, high-tech devices) human beings are not required to utilise their brains in order to solve issues, fix problems, and create a better alternative. Technology takes over and does all three, thus preventing the opportunity for one to do it themselves for a living. Like we have mentioned previously in class that we need technology and technology needs us, in a way this can be seen as an issue cause according to McLuhan, technology is destroying us and we are allowing it by letting it take over what we humans are capable to do. We are letting technology overrule our thoughts, speak for ourselves, and we rely to such an extent that without it we feel helpless at times. Therefore to say if the usage of technology were to be withheld for 24 hours worldwide crisis would most definitely occur because we have become so dependent on it that no one would know how to properly function; we would not be doing half of our daily activities because it would be merely impossible to an extent (i.e cooking, transportation to far of distance within a certain period of time, communicating with people who are not in the same facility as you, knowing the time, etc.). Due to being highly impacted because of technology humans are losing their self worth and capability because unfortunately in our society we are brainwashed into thinking that we can’t live without out cellular devices, microwaves, headphones, and many more technological devices.
âThe medium is the messageâ by Marshall McLuhan explained how we acquire information affects us more than the information it self. In other words, regardless of what type of media we useâ it would always be people in these media who would bring the message. To elaborate more, the message is always dependent on the messenger and the messenger could either lie or tell the truth. Therefore, the message is interpreted by the person whose sending it and that person could play a major role in which the message would be perceived by others. He talked about how the effects of technology arenât based on the technology itself and how technologies such as âtelephones, radios or computersâ affect people and society because these type of technologies have a philosophical consequences by alerting the ways in which we experience the world. Meaning that the form of message determines the ways in which the message is taken. He states that âcontent of any medium is always another mediumâ ( chapter one). McLuhan came up with the idea of hot and cold media. The difference between these type of medias ( based on my comprehension ) is that hot media involves an extension of physical sense such as the eyes. In other words, hot media requires someoneâs complete senses in order to engage with the message; since it needs a little interaction so the person receives the message without any active participation that could influence the message. While cool media is a less use of senses by someone; because it involves a form of interaction from the person such as a telephone; due to the fact that a person gains an understanding of the message that is being provided by an active participation. McLuhanâs work shows us that we learn by what we do, which is shaped in our external and internal environments. Therefore, the way we learn things such as habits, manners or how we perceive the world is by our everyday routines. According to Rousseau, he thinks that men are born good but society and its institutions, corrupted us. So Personally speaking, I totally agree to that because not everyone is born with knowledge but society and our daily experience, helps us to either be good or be corrupted.
Marshall McCluhanâs, âThe Medium is the Messageâ was very thought provoking. McCluhanâs extensive background in engineering and rhetoric gave him a good foundation for writing. McCluhan provides interesting and thought provoking examples to challenge our cultural idea of splitting and dividing things. He describes the medium as a technology. He argues that the way we acquire information affects us more than information itself. He also argues the way the medium affects us is what we should pay attention to. This concept reminds me about âfake news.â The internet is flooded with fake news and people end up taking in this malicious content and it effects them in negative ways. I would agree with McCluhanâs message that the way content affects us is more important than the actual content. McCluhanâs describes a medium as a technology that is an extension of us. This includes physical technology and non-physical technology like language. McCluhan brings an eye opening perspective, a birds eye view, into the concept of medium as a technology. McCluhan feels that a message of something is not the message itself but the effect that message has on the people. An example of this would be a scenario where a story exposing something as fake news goes on air on a local news station and affects the public by causing fear and confusion. Overall McCluhanâs concept that the medium is the message is an interesting concept that gets you thinking more about the great effect that information can have on things.
Marshall McLuhan lived from 1911 to 1980 and offered thoughts on media, communication technology, and how the content is received by people. He is well known for this chapter âThe Medium is the Messageâ in his larger piece âUnderstanding Media: The Extensions of Man.â McLuhan explains the content carried through media as having two parts, that which captures the receivers attention (the content), and the message (the medium).
To fully understand this simplification, McLuhan describes media as âany extension of ourselvesâ and while he concentrates on electronic media, he is referring to applying any technology to direct information. This can mean physical artifacts and language itself. Since media is technology that develops on the mastery of the technology before it, McLuhan states that any new media is simply old media presented in a new way. The content that is carried by this new media is nothing new to be enlightened by. It is simply pre existing content that is presented differently. Therefore, time spent on studying the content offers little insight into the actual context. While the content may be captivating and intriguing, the true message underlies the content.
For further comprehension of this, McLuhan offers two principles to consider when attempting to separate message from content. These principles are the figure and the ground. We can think of the figure as the weather, and the ground as the climate. The figure of media is a temporary but sensational experience. The ground is a deeper context of the entire situation, which we donât often think of.
MARSHALL McCLUHAN
Marshall McCluhan writes, âThis is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any mediumâthat is, of any extension of ourselvesâresult from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology. The medium is the message.
Continuing in his examples of electric light I will try to understand his theory through another channel. Although having a person come to your house and read your meter had been the norm for years. Your house is wired, a meter reader collects your monthly usage, you pay the bill, the light continues to shine. In today’s digital age, that method is being phased out. Companies have thought and introduced new technologies that are more time and cost efficient, automation. With automation there is no need to meet and greet your meter reader, your data is being collected via satelite. Although automating the electric meters were not a good deal for the workers it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, but the medium is still the light that shines into your home, they have just found a new way to collect the data, replacing the labor with machines.
McLuhan says that new medium is just updated from the old medium that has already exists, and with the advancement of technology humans are overloaded with information that the medium is the message, but humans does not take in the effect the technology had to humans. A medium is any tech that is an extension of oneself or ability and it also extends human thoughts to others. Language is a medium because it gives humans the ability to communicate with others what one thought are. The content of any new medium is always from previous mediums, he believes that not only the content of the medium they should also focus on the effects also. Since the new medium has been developed from what is already known then it makes sense for the way that they resemble each other. Although we know that technology have the affordances which is benefits and, we know the constraints which the limitations is but usually we do not investigate the consequences of the new technology. He says that we should also investigate the consequences because will affect the quality of life for people both negative and positive reasons. In the article he says there are two medias; hot has less or no participation compared to the cool media, the cool media is more interactive. Hot media is like books or radio and things that is like one sided communication like commercials that is to give information to consumers. The cool media is like video games, social media which is more human interactions from all sides.
In today’s class we analyzed a Canadian professor named Marshall McLuhan writing titled, “The Medium is the Message”. McLuhan was born in 1911 and passed away in 1980. He was a philosopher and a public intellectual. Throughout the reading he mostly talks about media and the way that it’s changing us and how we look at things. The message that we are receiving from these media has influenced us and often misleads us to what is really important. From when television was first introduced we were once the consumers consuming information by this new technology. Whereas now we are not only the consumers but also, we have become the producers by creating information as well. Any given medium has a number of affordances and constraints, and McLuhan is saying we should pay attention to this. Despite the fact that technology is transforming us, we can still control it as long as how efficient it gets. We shape our technology by tools, and the technology is going to shape us. It forms with a technology correspondence; the medium controls human association and actions. McLuhan believed that electronic media shows another side of the word. For example, television is an oral, visual and nonverbal medium. It affords motion, light and sound to penetrate our eyes and ears, but he wonders what is that actually doing to us as we consume it? The constraints of television are that it only allows for one-way communication- it “talks” to us, we cannot talk backâŚnot to the extent that it would actually listen at any rate. Similar to the concepts from our previous readings, McLuhan tells us that we need to understand, take control and not be overpowered by of all the technological changes.