This week, we talked about the mediums and technologies, and this was separated in three parts that are medium theory, technology and culture, and communication ‘revolutions’.
To discuss medium, I think the first step is that identify the definition of medium. Just like the most influential and controversial medium theorist, Marshall Mccluhan, said that ‘the medium is a message.’ I agree with this idea, and the message here means the thing that just is a container, containing many information people will read and get.
In recent centuries, because of the developing technologies, medium is changing with times. From newspaper, magazine and radio to internet, Facebook and mobile phone, the changing medium inconspicuously affects people’s daily life and culture. In the lecture, there were some questions asked by professor.
Firstly, how do technologies from the printing press to the Internet function culturally?
Secondly, how do they affect the manner in which we think about ourselves and our world?
Thirdly, from which cultural shifts do such new technological forms arise?
Indeed, technology is changing our life and the world. In some other words, technology is the most obvious and necessary form of productivity, and human life is based on productivity from human. In my opinion, these three questions actually are asking about what changes of culture happen in modern society, and how it is changed by productivity that is human themselves.
For the last part that is communication revolution, there is only an important sentence we need to take care and concern, which is social revolution follows communications revolution. This means that the reason why the society changed is because of the communication revolution in the society and the world. The communication revolution here, I think it refers that depending on technologies, people in the world can communicate with others closely, and their minds, opinions, ideologies and any information could be passed. In this case, the productivity that is based on human develop, the society revolution happen.