roundtable: Re: Understanding Marshall McLuhan

roundtable: Re: Understanding Marshall McLuhan

Re: Understanding Marshall McLuhan

Sean McLaughlin (seanm@hawaii.edu)
Sun, 24 Sep 1995 16:59:38 -1000 

Date: 	Sun, 24 Sep 1995 16:59:38 -1000
From: Sean McLaughlin <seanm@hawaii.edu>
To: roundtable@cni.org
Subject: Re: Understanding Marshall McLuhan
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950922110401.17132E-100000@access1.digex.net>
Message-Id: <Pine.SV4.3.91.950924161335.22862C-100000@uhunix2.its.Hawaii.Edu>


On Fri, 22 Sep 1995, Vigdor Schreibman - FINS wrote in part: 
[excerpted] 
>    Marshall McLuhan, the sage of culture and technology, will be remembered 
> for his metaphor "the medium is the message," suggesting that the content 
> of communications are subjected to the control of the medium itself. Some 
> people have trouble understanding what McLuhan meant by this statement, 
> or they believe that it does not apply to the electronic network, as a 
> discussion among journalists in the online-news list last week disclosed. 
> Understanding McLuhan is absolutely crucial to turn the technological 
> possibilities of the Information Age into democratic realities.  
> 
>   The "message" that McLuhan was referring to was not limited to its narrow 
> sense, namely, the explicit set of words or pictures built serially, block 
> by block, step-by-step.  This is merely the concrete end of the process...

Agreed that teledemocracy advocates should thoughtfully consider McLuhan.

Also interesting to note that McLuhan also described the idea as 
"the medium is the massage" and related the concept rather to 
a sensory experience.  

A sensory massage with relative weight to the eye, ear, etc. depending 
on the medium.  In developing his explanation and analysis, the massage 
was the message.

Who's doing that work now?  
Any thoughts on who is/will be the McLuhan of the internet?

Thanks for sharing.

Sean McLaughlin
Honolulu, Hawai'i
<seanm@hawaii.edu>

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