Thursday, November 5, 2009

New Media Reader: Ch. 13

Chronology:
  • 1962: Marshall McLuhan publishes "The Galaxy Reconfigured or the Plight of Mass Man in an Individualist Society."
  • 1964: Marshall McLuhan publishes "The Medium is the Message"
Summary: "Galaxy Reconfigured"
  • The pervasiveness of new media is altering the way we perceive
  • Joyce, Ruskin and others believe that media can be all-inclusive and not simply linear
  • Instead of focusing on a single instance by a single person, people must become aware of the collective conscious; the intertwined nature of the world
  • Adam Smith even believes that all work is somehow intertwined with everyone
  • There exists a schism within literature: vision is community orientated while the actual writing is individualistic and segmented
  • Market society transforms art from vision to product
  • McLuhan's famous "the medium is the message" directly relates to Whitehead stating that the method of delivery is of utmost importance.
Summary: "Medium is the Message"
  • The simply existence of a new medium has significant societal importance.
  • Mediums are potentiality. Seeing what they can do is more important than what they actually are used for (like spelling our a brand in lights)
  • Technological media are natural resources on par with wood and gold
  • (McLuhan lists many people [Arnold Toynbee, General David Sarnoff] and their ideas to simply disagree with them)

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