Marshall+McLuhan

toc //"The medium, or process, of our time - electric technology is reshaping and restructuring patterns of social interdependence and every aspect of our personal life. It is forcing us to reconsider and re-evaluate practically every thought, every action, and every institution formerly taken for granted. Everything is changing; you, your family, your education, your neighborhood, your job, your government, your relation to the others. And they're changing dramatically."// //**- Marshall McLuhan "The Medium is the Message"**//

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Marshall McLuhan was born on July 21, 1911 to his parents Herbert and Elsie in Edmonton Alberta. McLuhan also had a younger brother by the name of Maurice. In later years McLuhan and his family moved out to Winipeg Manita where he studied and earned his BA and MA in English. McLuhan was an educator, philosopher and a well know scholar of his time. McLuhan coined to two important terms "the medium is the message" and the "global village". McLuhan left a legacy of his studies and research in media, communication and technology. McLuhan lived to the age of 69 and died on December 31st 1980 (Wikipedia).

=Works=

=Global Village=

Technologies such as radio, television, telephones, computers, and Internet have created what is termed by Marshall McLuhan as a “global village”. There’s an undeniable link across states and nations. These technologies have become an extension of our bodies allowing us to go further around the world than ever before. Our ears cross international borders by listening to the radio or talking on the telephone and our eyes see further through television and computers. As quoted by McLuhan, "All media are extensions of some human faculty- psychic or physical". International communications has become as easy as back in tribal days with people only needing to communicate in their small village. Face-to-face conversation with a person miles away is now possible. There is no hiding with the global village idea, all can be seen and heard.

Despite having a global village, evidence shows an uneven flow of communication. A digital divide is still predominant contradicting the idea of a global village. The digital divide acts a multidimensional observable fact, showing that although the world in continually connecting itself, thousands or people and several places are being disregarded. Majority of the time “village walls” are built keeping the developing, uneducated, and/pr underclass people out. Other concepts relating to the digital divide include the global divide, social divide and the democratic divide. The global divide focuses on the variations in access to the internet between underdeveloped countries and developed ones. When referring to the social divide, it looks at the gap countries create with the “information rich” and the “information poor”. Lastly, a study into who doesn’t and does use digital resources to engage and participate in a society's governance refers to the democratic divide.

Furthermore, communication medias, acting as the building blocks to this idea, are controlled by big corporations. A few of these include, Microsoft, Disney (ABC, ESPN), AOL Time Warner (CNN, WB), AT&T etc… In most cases, these corporations are owned and operated by the United States, which may help to explain why they have too much power and impact on the world. Countries worldwide to help reduce outside influences from countries like the US are limiting the import of outside media. With content flowing in from different places, countries aren’t able to isolate themselves. There is a culture clash created and it gives voice to new values and ideas. Cultures are unique to societies; it’s what makes them who and what they are so people don’t want to lose it or the countries national sovereignty. Regardless of the positive outcomes, such as intercontinental collaboration/cooperation, countries and their citizens are fearful of this global village. A lot of countries are afraid to lose their culture because of incoming information from around the world.

=Gutenberg Galaxy=

//Where can we find the references?//

=Tetrad= tetrad


 * Also refer to Global Village in CCT300 Wikispaces

=Hot and Cool Media=

Marshall McLuhan's theories between "hot" and "cool" media also deal with his conceptions of "the medium is the message." Hot and cool media is referred to the different sensory effects associated with media of higher or lower definition. Hot media consists of newspapers or radio, which are full of information and allow for less sensory completion or involvement on the part of the reader or listener. Cool media is telephone or television, which are relatively lacking in information and require a higher sensory involvement of the user. The form of each medium is associated with a different arrangement, or ratio, in the order among the senses and thus creates new forms of awareness. These transformations of perceptions are the bases of the meaning of the message.