Oh, well hello.

Marshall McLuhan & the Internet

A match made in (electronic) media theory heaven?

The sign is a clue

A Little About McLuhan

Born July 21, 1911, Died December 31, 1980

Canadian professor, theorist, critic

Popular in the 1960s Mcluhanisme (French word) His main concepts…

“the medium is the message” the “global village”

His major works: The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) Understanding Media (1964)

And we can’t forget his Playboy interview…

A Little About the Internet

Born in the late 1960s-1970s

Not dead, (still a young adult, commercially)!

Open to commercial use starting in the late 1980s

Popular, growing use from 1990s-present

Used for email, any/all information dispersal, music/video recordings, social networks, etc.

“the medium is the message”

How does the internet completely change our environment & culture?

Collapse of time & space boundaries Online communities in real-time; instant communication An extension of ourselves Access to instant/up-to-date information “total field awareness”/“instant sensory awareness” Creates new patterns of human perception &

consciousness Ability to understand & use the internet as a means of

control/influence

Twitter-wha?

Exhibit A: Obama + the internet = BFF

McCain + internet = Frenemies

The Electronic Revolution & the “global village”

“The overhauling of our traditional political system is only one manifestation of the retribalizing process wrought by the electric media, which is turning the planet into a global village.” -from Playboy interview; emphasis mine

McLuhan foresaw this return to a small village kind of connectedness internet = electronic nervous system Everyone online is involved as a community, “react[ing]

and interact[ing] simultaneously to every stimulus.”

Sources

http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_mcluhan.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_village_(Internet)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mcluhan http://www.guardian.co.uk/

technology/2007/nov/01/comment.internet

http://www.columbia.edu/~log2/mediablogs/McLuhanPBinterview.htm

Nina Yiamsamatha

Prof. Keith Miller

Thinking About Seeing