Monday, September 28, 2009
Marshall McLuhan: "The Medium is the Message"
Todd Kappelman
Kappelman in his artilce has made an attempt to encompass most of the work done by Marshall Mcluhan.I found the article very useful and easy to understand. It uses simple words to explain some of the theories of Mcluhan.
The development of technology has transformed our lives and the world we live in. It has entered into the fabric of our lives and influenced us profoundly.
The article includes Mcluhan's theory of extension and amputation. Mcluhan defines extension as "Any additional equipment or resource that a human uses to engage in something which enhances performance of the action" and amputation as the counterpart to extension. For example the use of PowerPoint is an extension which amputates the use of chalkboard in the classroom.
With the theory of extension and amputation, Mcluhan points out the danger of being too dependent on technological extensions. He addresses the fact that we human being are too obsessed with these extensions and care less about the amputation and its effect on us. Motor Vehicle for example is an extension that we all use in our everyday life, but we seldom think about its amputations. The loss of muscle strength in the under-utilized legs, the quality of air that we breathe, the pollution it causes is all amputations of using a motor vehicle.
The theory of extension and amputation led to an introduction of a scientific approach, which he called tetrad. Tetrad is based on four questions or laws:
1. What does it (the medium or technology) extend?
2. What does it make obsolete?
3. What is retrieved?
4. what does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?
These questions result in a set of four effects, namely: enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval and reversal. The framework is an excellent way to evaluate the extensions we use in our everyday life. I believe the technological extensions that we use have certainly made our life easier but it has also enhanced or reduced some key elements of what it means to be human.
The development of technology has transformed our lives and the world we live in. It has entered into the fabric of our lives and influenced us profoundly.
The article includes Mcluhan's theory of extension and amputation. Mcluhan defines extension as "Any additional equipment or resource that a human uses to engage in something which enhances performance of the action" and amputation as the counterpart to extension. For example the use of PowerPoint is an extension which amputates the use of chalkboard in the classroom.
With the theory of extension and amputation, Mcluhan points out the danger of being too dependent on technological extensions. He addresses the fact that we human being are too obsessed with these extensions and care less about the amputation and its effect on us. Motor Vehicle for example is an extension that we all use in our everyday life, but we seldom think about its amputations. The loss of muscle strength in the under-utilized legs, the quality of air that we breathe, the pollution it causes is all amputations of using a motor vehicle.
The theory of extension and amputation led to an introduction of a scientific approach, which he called tetrad. Tetrad is based on four questions or laws:
1. What does it (the medium or technology) extend?
2. What does it make obsolete?
3. What is retrieved?
4. what does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?
These questions result in a set of four effects, namely: enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval and reversal. The framework is an excellent way to evaluate the extensions we use in our everyday life. I believe the technological extensions that we use have certainly made our life easier but it has also enhanced or reduced some key elements of what it means to be human.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Marshall McLuhan Excerpts from Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man, Part I.
Orginally published in 1964; many subsequent printings
Understanding Media: The Extension of Man is a book written by Marshal Mcluhan. Mcluhan is well known for his phrase "The medium is the message". The part one of the book discusses this phrase and categorises medium into hot and cold medium..
According to Mcluhan a medium plays an important role to understand the message or the content. The medium through which an individual encounters the content would have an effect on the individual's understanding of the content. To demonstrate this statement of Mcluhan, we can take a simple example of a book and a movie inspired by the book. Even though the contents of both movie and the book are similar, movie portrays the content in a different way through vision, where an individual normally do not need to put much effort on filling in the detail [hot or high definition media: discussed below]. With book however, a reader has to use his imagination to extract the value or message of the book, requiring high level participation from the reader [Cold or low definition media: discussed below].
Mcluhan categorizes medium into two categories, hot and cold medium. In the book, he defines hot medium as a highly defined medium where there is little information to be filled in by the audience or participant. Radio, according to author, is a hot medium. It requires minimal participation from the audience. Cold medium by contrast are low defined and requires active participation from the audience. Speech for instance is a cold medium because so little is given and so much has to be filled in by the audience.
I do agree with Mcluhan that a medium plays an important role in socio cultural environment and affects an individuals understanding of the content. However, I found the categorisation of medium into hot and cold a bit confusing because Mcluhan considers Television to be the ultimate "Cool" medium. I personally consider television viewing a passive activity and do not think that a high level participation is required from the audience. I am sure there must be a reasonable explanation towards his view of television as a cold medium, but I have to admit that I still find it difficult to accept and understand it.
Understanding Media: The Extension of Man is a book written by Marshal Mcluhan. Mcluhan is well known for his phrase "The medium is the message". The part one of the book discusses this phrase and categorises medium into hot and cold medium..
According to Mcluhan a medium plays an important role to understand the message or the content. The medium through which an individual encounters the content would have an effect on the individual's understanding of the content. To demonstrate this statement of Mcluhan, we can take a simple example of a book and a movie inspired by the book. Even though the contents of both movie and the book are similar, movie portrays the content in a different way through vision, where an individual normally do not need to put much effort on filling in the detail [hot or high definition media: discussed below]. With book however, a reader has to use his imagination to extract the value or message of the book, requiring high level participation from the reader [Cold or low definition media: discussed below].
Mcluhan categorizes medium into two categories, hot and cold medium. In the book, he defines hot medium as a highly defined medium where there is little information to be filled in by the audience or participant. Radio, according to author, is a hot medium. It requires minimal participation from the audience. Cold medium by contrast are low defined and requires active participation from the audience. Speech for instance is a cold medium because so little is given and so much has to be filled in by the audience.
I do agree with Mcluhan that a medium plays an important role in socio cultural environment and affects an individuals understanding of the content. However, I found the categorisation of medium into hot and cold a bit confusing because Mcluhan considers Television to be the ultimate "Cool" medium. I personally consider television viewing a passive activity and do not think that a high level participation is required from the audience. I am sure there must be a reasonable explanation towards his view of television as a cold medium, but I have to admit that I still find it difficult to accept and understand it.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Towards a Mediological Method: A Framework for Critically Engaging Dimensions of a medium
Turnley, Melinda. 2009.
Inspired by the French intellectual Regis Debray’s Mediology theory Turnley's "Mediological Method: A Framework for Critically Engaging Dimensions of Medium" suggests a framwork for analysing media through seven dimensions.
Technological:
Turnley states that though technology plays an important role in construction of a medium, it is very important to understand the rhetorical practices. Just because you have a certain technology available doesn't mean that it is the right choice for you. One needs to know when and how to use the technology. For example in web services world there are two ways of providing and consuming web services. using SOAP as a messaging protocol or following the RESTful architectural style (introduced by Roy fielding in his doctoral dissertation). The system architect or the project manager needs to know which technology or architectural style suits their requirements first and make decision based on it.
Social:
"Media are conceived, developed, and distributed within particular cultural and historical contexts and thus inform and are informed by the dominant structures within these settings." What this means is that there is a give and take relationship between media and society. A medium needs to address right message or information to the people so that it could be absorbed well by them. The recent shift towards the WWW has introduced a different type of social networking sites. Web applications like secondlife.com allows users to create their own virtual objects, socialise with other members, create and trade properties etc.
Economic:
Among all the dimensions i feel Economic dimension is the most important one. if the target audience does not have the motivation and financial resources to participate or engage themselves with the medium, the medium will not succed. In the article Turner gives a very good example of how television developed after the Economic shift in the post war era of the 1950's in America.
Archival:
In Archival dimension Turnley emphasises the importance of storing medium so that it could be retrieved for later use.Turnley argues that the retrieval of medium depends on how it has been stored and organised. For example if a medium is stored in a Database, it is retrieved and processed with SQL and if a medium is physically stored in a room someone has to remember where it has been stored.
Aesthetic:
Having a good design, colour scheme, format etc for a medium gives a pleasant experience to the target audience. With the emergence of New Media, it is now very important to consider the Aesthetic Dimension to converge various modes of media.
Subjective:
I believe the subject dimension on Turnley’s framework refers to the understanding of the relationship between medium and the target audience.
Epistemological:
Turnley states that the process of constructing and distributing knowledge are changing through internet and technologies such as Web 2.0. Wikipedia is a very good example of how the process of constructing and sharing knowledge has evolved recently. Users of such Web 2.0 type web applications have the ability to change or edit content and share information.
Inspired by the French intellectual Regis Debray’s Mediology theory Turnley's "Mediological Method: A Framework for Critically Engaging Dimensions of Medium" suggests a framwork for analysing media through seven dimensions.
Technological:
Turnley states that though technology plays an important role in construction of a medium, it is very important to understand the rhetorical practices. Just because you have a certain technology available doesn't mean that it is the right choice for you. One needs to know when and how to use the technology. For example in web services world there are two ways of providing and consuming web services. using SOAP as a messaging protocol or following the RESTful architectural style (introduced by Roy fielding in his doctoral dissertation). The system architect or the project manager needs to know which technology or architectural style suits their requirements first and make decision based on it.
Social:
"Media are conceived, developed, and distributed within particular cultural and historical contexts and thus inform and are informed by the dominant structures within these settings." What this means is that there is a give and take relationship between media and society. A medium needs to address right message or information to the people so that it could be absorbed well by them. The recent shift towards the WWW has introduced a different type of social networking sites. Web applications like secondlife.com allows users to create their own virtual objects, socialise with other members, create and trade properties etc.
Economic:
Among all the dimensions i feel Economic dimension is the most important one. if the target audience does not have the motivation and financial resources to participate or engage themselves with the medium, the medium will not succed. In the article Turner gives a very good example of how television developed after the Economic shift in the post war era of the 1950's in America.
Archival:
In Archival dimension Turnley emphasises the importance of storing medium so that it could be retrieved for later use.Turnley argues that the retrieval of medium depends on how it has been stored and organised. For example if a medium is stored in a Database, it is retrieved and processed with SQL and if a medium is physically stored in a room someone has to remember where it has been stored.
Aesthetic:
Having a good design, colour scheme, format etc for a medium gives a pleasant experience to the target audience. With the emergence of New Media, it is now very important to consider the Aesthetic Dimension to converge various modes of media.
Subjective:
I believe the subject dimension on Turnley’s framework refers to the understanding of the relationship between medium and the target audience.
Epistemological:
Turnley states that the process of constructing and distributing knowledge are changing through internet and technologies such as Web 2.0. Wikipedia is a very good example of how the process of constructing and sharing knowledge has evolved recently. Users of such Web 2.0 type web applications have the ability to change or edit content and share information.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Giving up my iPod for a Walkman
The article is about a 13 year old Scott Campbell who trades his Ipod for a 30year old Walkman.It was a very enjoyable read and a funny one too. The funniest part in the article was when he admits that it took him 3 days to figure out that there was music on the other side of the tape.
Scott compares these two portable music players in terms of sound, convinience, design, size and functionality. I have to admit and agree with Scott that Ipod is way better than walkman considering all those factors mentioned above.But if we consider the simplicity and usability factor, i beleive the 30 year old Walkman is better than the Ipod. All we have to remember is the play button, rewind button and the forward button. With Ipod on the other hand, there are so many functionalities available that most of us don't even considering exploring all of them.
Walkman and Ipod are both great innovations but nothing is here to stay.A thing of today will most certainly be a thing of the past in the future. But the question is will we able to keep up with the advancement of technology? I certainly hope so......
Scott compares these two portable music players in terms of sound, convinience, design, size and functionality. I have to admit and agree with Scott that Ipod is way better than walkman considering all those factors mentioned above.But if we consider the simplicity and usability factor, i beleive the 30 year old Walkman is better than the Ipod. All we have to remember is the play button, rewind button and the forward button. With Ipod on the other hand, there are so many functionalities available that most of us don't even considering exploring all of them.
Walkman and Ipod are both great innovations but nothing is here to stay.A thing of today will most certainly be a thing of the past in the future. But the question is will we able to keep up with the advancement of technology? I certainly hope so......
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Internet could be considered as the biggest wide area network (WAN) of the world. Billions and trillions of data are transferred and exchanged every minute. It has changed the way we live our lives and has certainly played an important role in globalisation.
The video shows the movement of internet technology from a human centric web to an application centric web. When internet first came into scene, it was simply about displaying plain text using limited HTML tags on the screen. Now with extended HTML tags and numerous other media such as videos, audios, images etc, internet has revolutionised the experience of distributed data on the web.
Other improved technologies such as CSS, XSLT also exist to separate the content from presentation.
The video also mentions about the XML technology which is the heart and soul of Web 2.0 type web applications. Delicious, Lastfm, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Ebay are all Web 2.0 applications. They allow users to do more than just retrieve information.
The video captures almost everything that the internet provides. The only thing that is missing is the topic web services. Most Web 2.0 web applications not only gives users the facility to perform the CRUD (create, retrieve, update and delete) operations and interact with other visitors of the site but also provides an API (application programming interface) for developers to extract their data and build their own mashup application.
The video shows the movement of internet technology from a human centric web to an application centric web. When internet first came into scene, it was simply about displaying plain text using limited HTML tags on the screen. Now with extended HTML tags and numerous other media such as videos, audios, images etc, internet has revolutionised the experience of distributed data on the web.
Other improved technologies such as CSS, XSLT also exist to separate the content from presentation.
The video also mentions about the XML technology which is the heart and soul of Web 2.0 type web applications. Delicious, Lastfm, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Ebay are all Web 2.0 applications. They allow users to do more than just retrieve information.
The video captures almost everything that the internet provides. The only thing that is missing is the topic web services. Most Web 2.0 web applications not only gives users the facility to perform the CRUD (create, retrieve, update and delete) operations and interact with other visitors of the site but also provides an API (application programming interface) for developers to extract their data and build their own mashup application.
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