Maria Sachiko Cecire Asst. Professor of Literature Director, Experimental Humanities Bard College, NY

“We become, neurologically, what we think.” --Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to our Brains (2010)

“[…] we seem determined to give human qualities to objects and content to treat each other as things.” ― Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2012)

--Plato, Phaedrus 275a-b (c. 370 BCE) But also…

“this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing […] will discourage the use of their own memory within them.” --Plato, Phaedrus 275a-b (c. 370 BCE) But also…

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964)

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964)

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964)

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964)

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964) “the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.”

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”. --Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964) “the ‘message’ of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs.” “global village”

A medium, or technology, becomes an “extension of ourselves”.

…OK, but what about the content of those media technologies (images, shows, movies, games, songs, articles, comics, etc.) ? How do they work on us, and can we work with them?

“Each of us constructs our own personal mythology from bits and fragments of information extracted from the media flow and transformed into resources through which we make sense of our everyday lives.” --Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006)

“Each of us constructs our own personal mythology from bits and fragments of information extracted from the media flow and transformed into resources through which we make sense of our everyday lives.” mass media --Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006)

“Each of us constructs our own personal mythology from bits and fragments of information extracted from the media flow and transformed into resources through which we make sense of our everyday lives.” mass media social media --Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006)

How do media shape individuals and influence whole societies?

How much are our identities molded by outside interests?

How do media shape individuals and influence whole societies? How much are our identities molded by outside interests? How can we become aware of our media environment when we are immersed in it?

How do media shape individuals and influence whole societies? How much are our identities molded by outside interests? How can we become aware of our media environment when we are immersed in it? How can we use media to improve our circumstances and those of others?

media (awakening)

media (awakening) resistance

media (awakening) resistance revolution

media (awakening)

media (awakening)

resistance

revolution

Works Cited: Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to our Brains (2010) Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006) Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage (1967) and Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964) Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2012) Further Reading: Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1936) N. Katherine Hayles, How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics (2008)

Maria Sachiko Cecire Asst. Professor of Literature Director, Experimental Humanities Bard College, NY Thank you!