This week through our readings and in our lectorials the theme is Medium theory, which refers to “how the medium is the message”, and it examines how examine how the means of expression of human communication impact the means of human communications.
Three metaphors:
- media as conduit (textual analysis)
- media as languages (affordances)
- media as environments (medium analysis)
The peak moment came in the 1960s for Marshall McCluhan, as he did many chat shows through the ABC displaying his content and his opinions on media theory. He was a heavy weight in the industry, from point to point, from idea to idea and these moments of enlightenment and moments of brilliance makes his work iconic. His messages include ‘the medium is the message’ and ‘the new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village’. He argues that the new media wave makes sense of the future, through looking into concepts of the past and creating a global community of connectivity.
How is the mediums of media affecting us and are there significant changes in the media has technology has advanced. New technology can draw black and white positions about the future, and media as an academic disciplines project for the future by reflecting on the past of media technologies and mediums. The way politics and popular culture has contributed to the media in the past can aid us and help us to predict where society is moving in the future especially how media was span in the future.