Who was MARSHALL MCLUHAN

• CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) • A Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar — a

professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communications theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory.

• McLuhan is known for the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village".

• McLuhan was a fixture in media discourse from the late 1960s to his death and he continues to be an influential and controversial figure. More than ten years after his death he was named the "patron saint" of Wired magazine.

Understanding Media.• 1964• “A pioneering study in media theory.”• McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the

content they carry, should be the focus of study.• “The Medium is the Message!”• “Global Village!”• The Light Bulb…the only medium without a

message?

Understanding Media..

• "The content of a medium is always another medium.“

• “Any innovation threatens the equilibrium of existing organization.”

• “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”

Understanding Media…• “A new medium is never an addition to an old one,

nor does it leave the old one in peace. It never ceases to oppress the older media until it finds new shapes and positions for them.”

• “Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience, rather than understanding that influences behavior, especially in collective matters of media and technology, where the individual is almost inevitably unaware of their effect upon him.”

“The Medium is the Message”• McLuhan proposes that media itself, not the content

it carries, should be the focus of study• the form of a medium embeds itself in the message• creating a symbiotic relationship by which the

medium influences how the message is perceived• a medium affects the society in which it plays a role

not only by the content delivered over the medium• but also by the characteristics of the medium itself

"Hot" and "cool" media

• Hot- intensifying one single sense, "high definition.”

• Cool- conscious participation, "low definition.“

• "Any hot medium allows of less participation than a cool one…”

HOT! • An emphasize on one sense…

• FILM• PHOTOGRAPHY• RADIO• LECTURE• BOOK

COOL!• An emphasize on active participation…

• TV• TELEPHONE• COMICS• SEMINAR• DIALOGUE

The Extensions of Man?• Electronic (digital) technologies extend the human

nervous system across the global…

• Technology in general does with as well…

• Cars, clothes, computers, the internet…

Aphorisms by Marshall McLuhan

• The medium is the message.• In the electric age, we wear all mankind as our skin..• On Spaceship Earth there are no passengers, only crew.• Education is civil defense against media fallout.• A moral point of view serves as a substitute for understanding in technological

matters.• With telephone and TV it is not so much the message as the sender that is “sent.”• Money is the poor man’s credit card.• We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the

future.• Invention is the mother of necessities.• I may be wrong, but I’m never in doubt

• .

Books by Marshall McLuhan• The Mechanical Bride• The Gutenberg Galaxy• Understanding Media: The

Extensions of Man. • The Medium is the

Massage.

• Counterblast. • Culture is Our Business• The Global Village• Laws of Media: The New

Science• Through the Vanishing

Point• War and Peace in the

Global Village