1. Media Ecology of Marshall McLuhan25
Media Ecology of Marshall McLuhan

2. Media Ecology The Medium Is the Message The Challenge of Media Ecology
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Media Ecology
The Medium Is the Message
The Challenge of Media Ecology
Media Analysis of Human History
Ethical Reflection: Postman’s Faustian Bargain
Critique: How Could He Be Right? But What If He Is?

3. Slide 3
Media Ecology
For McLuhan, changes in technology alter the symbolic environment
Symbolic environment – socially-constructed, sensory world of meanings

4. The Medium Is the Message
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The Medium Is the Message
Media – generic term for all human-invented technology that extends the range, speed, or channels of communication

5. The Medium Is the Message
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The Medium Is the Message
Medium – specific type of media: book, newspaper, radio, television, telephone, film, website, , etc.
McLuhan saw message and medium as one and the same
We focus on content and overlook medium even though content does not exist outside of the way it is mediated

6. The Medium Is the Message

7. The Medium Is the Message

8. The Challenge of Media Ecology
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The Challenge of Media Ecology
Media ecology – study of different personal and social environments created by use of different communication technologies
Evaluating the ecology of media is difficult because all environments are inherently intangible and interrelated

9. The Challenge of Media Ecology
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The Challenge of Media Ecology
Invisibility of environments
It is not technological abnormality that demands attention; we need to focus on the everyday experience of technology
Technology – according to McLuhan, human inventions that enhance communication
The ordinariness of media make them invisible

10. The Challenge of Media Ecology
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The Challenge of Media Ecology
Complexity of environments
Overdetermination – equifinality; a systems theory assumption that a given outcome could be effectively caused by any or many interconnected factors
McLuhan traced major ecological shifts in media throughout human history

11. A Media Analysis of Human History
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A Media Analysis of Human History
McLuhan divided human history into 4 periods or epochs
Tribal age
Literate age
Print age
Electronic age

12. Media Analysis of Human History
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Media Analysis of Human History
1. The Tribal Age: An Acoustic Place in History
Tribal age – acoustic era; a time of community because the ear is the dominant sense organ

13. Media Analysis of Human History
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Media Analysis of Human History
2. The Age of Literacy: A Visual Point of View
Literary age – a visual era; a time of private detachment because the eye is the dominant sense organ

14. Media Analysis of Human History
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Media Analysis of Human History
3. The Print Age: Prototype of the Industrial Revolution
Print age – visual era; mass produced books usher in the industrial revolution and nationalism, yet individuals are isolated

15. Media Analysis of Human History
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Media Analysis of Human History
4. The Electronic Age: The Rise of the Global Village
Electronic age – era of instant communication; a return to the global village with the all-at- once sound and touch

16. Media Analysis of Human History
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Media Analysis of Human History
5. The Digital Age? Rewiring the Global Village
Digital age – possible fifth era of specialized electronic tribes, contentious over diverse beliefs and values

18. Figure 25-1: Marshall McLuhan’s Media Map of History
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Figure 25-1: Marshall McLuhan’s Media Map of History

19. McLuhan

20. Media Types
Hot Media
Cold Media
Effect of media type convergance

21. Ethical Reflection: Postman’s Faustian Bargain
Postman’s questions
New technology always presents us with a Faustian bargain – deal with the devil; selling your soul for temporary earthly gain

23. Critique: How Could He Be Right? But What If He Is?
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Critique: How Could He Be Right? But What If He Is?
McLuhan’s theory suggests objectivity without scientific evidence
Faced harsh criticism from scholarly community
Difficult to be certain what he said
Has heightened awareness of possible cultural effects of new media technologies