1. Understanding Media
a presentation of...

2. the theories of Marshall McLuhan

3. What are Media?

4. Media extend our senses --
Books extend our eyes
“Speakers” extend our ears
TV extends both

5. “The Medium is the Message”
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media
by which we communicate than by
the content of communications”
-- Marshall McLuhan

6. The history of all media in one sentence
We shape our tools,
And our tools shape us.

7. A new “Age” is upon us! The Information Age We are living in
Not The Stone Age
Not The Industrial Age
And certainly not the “post-industrial” Age

8. Before the alphabet, people would rather be blind than deaf
Hearing was believing.
Being educated meant reciting Homer’ Iliad from memory.
Oral tradition for an aural culture.

9. The phonetic alphabet changed our way of thinking
Oral languages had been like knots
Oral languages had been like knots

10. The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1448
fostered more linear, visual thinking
provided the model for the assembly LINE and the mechanical age
broke down everything into component parts, which led to industrialization
sequence became associated with logical thinking

11. Western Art was shaped by this linear, eye-based perception of space
Since the renaissance, the Western artist perceived his environment in terms of a perspective projection upon a plane surface, accepting vertical and horizontal symmetry as an absolute condition of order.

12. New media = New modes of perception
Our new
are simultaneous, interrelated, visceral, intuitive, and participatory (we makes the connections).
The "logic" of these languages can be circular, free-associating, discontinuous, non-linear and out of sequence. Kind of like a “cubist” painting, we get all angles at once.
media languages

13. in the instantaneous information environment
Communication is instantly everywhere
Information overload can result
A continuous barrage of information “implodes” upon us.
Information moves faster and faster
Brief, simple, funny images and messages break through the clutter

14. An inventory of effects . . .
When information moves at electronic speeds, it changes.
Details blur into patterns. Causes and effects compress.
Information becomes obsolete faster.

15. The pace of change accelerates …

16. Media languages evolve quickly
Content compatible with media languages gets amplified.
Events expand, and leap across the globe. We live in a Global Village.

17. Create your own inventory of effects
Consider any medium …
What does it enhance or amplify in our culture?
What does it obsolete or push out of prominence?
What does it retrieve from the past? What does it reverse? What will the medium transform into?

18. in conclusion…
Understanding Media means becoming viscerally “media-wise”, developing an intuitive understanding of the media environment.
Understanding Media requires fluency in media “languages.
Media are constantly changing, so fluency is a lifelong learning process.
Understanding Media is the mark of an educated citizen in the Information Age.

19. Questions for Discussion
Is shorter communication content more repeatable than longer? Can you name some disposable content? Some recyclable content?
Which will transform our lives with new forms of interactivity?
How will accelerating change in our media effect…. Medicine…Education...Politics…Entertainment…Relationships….Business?
How will understanding media help you anticipate and embrace change?