The+Medium+is+the+Message


 * Reading**

McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the message. //NEA Journal, 56//(7), 24-27.

= **The Medium is the Message** =



**About the author**

 * Herbert Marshall McLuhan was born in Edmonton, Alberta on July 21, 1909 to parents Elsie Naomi Hall and Herbert McLuhan (Fitzgerald, 2001). Despite Marshall's brilliance (according to Elsie), Marshall failed grade 6. After promising his mother he will handle the situation, he moved on to academically. Marshall graduated from the University of Manitoba with a BA (1933) and MA (1934) in English, followed with another BA (1936) at University of Cambridge (Fitzgerald, 2001). Since tension is building due to World War II, Marshall did not received his PhD until 1943, after obtaining permission to submit his dissertation in the US (Fitzgerald, 2001). The economic times made it difficult to find work in Canada, but Marshall did succeed in finding teaching employment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, followed later by employment at Saint Louis University while working on his dissertation (Fitzgerald, 2001). Marshall met Corinne Keller Lewis, a drama teacher and aspiring actress, through his mother, Elsie (Fitzgerald, 2001). The two hit it off and was married in St. Louis's Catholic Cathedral on August 4, 1939 (Fitzgerald, 2001).


 * After obtaining his PhD and with the pressure of being the sole breadwinner to a growing brood, Marshall found work first at Assumption College and St. Michael's College in Canada (Fitzgerald, 2001). His first book, //The Mechanical Bride: The Folklore of Industrial Man// (1951) received decent reviews, but suffer from poor sales (Fitzgerald, 2001). Marshall reflected on his failure and realized he had raged too much on capitalism, consumerism and overall changing times in popular culture. He coined his famous statement "the medium is the message" in his 1958 Keynote Address to the National Association of Educational Broadcasters in Omaha, Nebraska (Fitzgerald, 2001). In his speech, he focused on media and its influence on society; going as far as saying education and its associates does not make the world go round, but information does (Fitzgerald, 2001). This keynote address and subsequent lectures built on his legacy. Marshall further elaborated his thoughts in his 1964 book//, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, and// his 1967 article, //The Medium is the Message//.[[image:corinne_and_marshall.jpeg caption="Figure 2: Corinne Lewis McLuhan and Marshall McLuhan                          (Image obtained from http://mcluhan.net/blog?page=1)"]]
 * In later years, Marshall seem to suffer from repeated health issues. Marshall suffered from a stroke prior to 1960, followed by the removal of a benign tumor in his brain on November 25, 1967, and lastly a cerebral stroke on September 26, 1979 (Fitzgerald, 2001). At first, his doctors said he will never walk again, but of course he proved them wrong. His stroke however, did affect his ability to write and speak and on New Years eve, 1980, Marshall passed away peacefully in his sleep (Fitzgerald, 2001).

**Summary of the Reading**



 * The 1967 reading starts by reminding readers there is a change in society, in particular globalization and automation technology (McLuhan, 1967). There are both positive and negative results from societal change. The negative result of automation is job elimination, and the positive result would be to redefining new roles for people (McLuhan, 1967). In the article, McLuhan explained his point by using an electric light as an example of a medium without content or a message (McLuhan, 1967). The only way for the electric light to contain a message is if was used to form words or sentences via the electric light, thus implying for a medium to have a message, it will require another medium to do so. Compare this medium to the newspaper print, which in itself, provides content. McLuhan wants us to view the medium (in this case, electric light) as a message in itself, for the fact that its existence alters human action and interaction (McLuhan, 1967). Without the medium (electric light), human action and interaction would be affected (ie. cannot play baseball at night). Thus, McLuhan draw an important point in emphasizing the focus on the form of the medium as a conveyer of message, rather than content.
 * McLuhan used a television executive's quotes to exhibit society's focus on content rather the medium form. Using cubism as an example of medium, cubism (the form, not the art subject itself) represents a message in itself by presenting multidimensional viewpoints. Instead of saying, what does this piece of cubism art saying, it is looking at what the cubism (any art using the cubism format) telling us. The characteristics of the medium affects society or tells us something about society and not the content.
 * McLuhan compared society's blindness to technology and the medium as message senders by comparing to Greek mythological character, Narcissus. Society, like Narcissus, is obsess with the content (Narcissus being blinded to the image of his reflection), and not the format of the medium.

**McLuhan's Main Points**

 * A medium (or technology) is defined as an extension of ourselves (Gordon, 2004).
 * Information contained within the medium passes the message and content plays a smaller subordinate role (Fitzgerald, 2001).
 * The form of the medium is important in conveying the message.
 * New media does not replace old media, but rather add on and further complicates society and culture (Gordon, 2004) by creating new environments.
 * Medium is categorized as hot and cool. A cool medium (ie. television) does not provide much sensory overload and requires much more involvement with the human in order to obtain the message (Fitzgerald, 2001). A hot medium (ie. photography) allows human to be more detached as it requires less participation and provides more high intensity in its presentation (Fitzgerald, 2001).
 * Society has become a "global village" (Fitzgerald, 2001). No longer do we need to wait for messengers to travel on foot from village to village in passing on news. Technology has done away with the process and sped up communication.



** [|VoiceThread] discussion question: **

 * Select an example of a technology medium. What are the positives and negatives of using this medium in educational instruction? What possible message about society does this medium convey?

**Vista discussion/reflection**

 * 1) Think about one example of a medium. What does this medium provide and take away (positive and negatives)?
 * 2) To what extent does the selection of the medium in which we develop instruction influence that instruction itself?

**Further Reading or Viewing**
1) The Medium is the Message. McLuhan's 1977 lecture on ABC Radio (part 1 of 3) media type="youtube" key="ImaH51F4HBw" height="315" width="560"

2) McLuhan's World and Ours.

**References**
Fitzgerald, J. (2001). //Marshall McLuhan: Wise guy// [ebrary Reader version]. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/docDetail.action?docID=10192369

Gordon, T. (2004). Terrance Gordon on Marshall McLuhan and what he was doin'. //The Beaver, 84//(2), 11-12.

McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the message. //NEA Journal, 56//(7), 24-27.

[So you wanna to be a cartoonist comic]. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from: http://franwagstaff.com/writer-speaker-marshall-mcluhan/

[Untitled photograph of Light bulb as a medium]. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from: http://majorstudio.blogspot.com/

[Untitled photograph of Marshall McLuhan]. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from: http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2011/07/21/jian-on-marshall-mcluhans-100th-birthday/

[Untitled photograph of Marshall McLuhan and Corinne McLuhan]. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from: http://mcluhan.net/blog?page=1

[Untitled photograph of Marshall McLuhan quotation]. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from: http://theconsummate.wordpress.com/2009/08/

[Untitled photograph of Medium is the message]. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from: