Analytical
text - “Medium is the message”
In the first
place, media ecology focused on how media of communication could influence human’s
perception and understanding. Specifically, it examines on how media changes
the society and practically dominate over the walks of life without people
actually noticed. Through a medium, communication takes place where the content
of the message is successfully being delivered. In this case, Marshall McLuhan
(1964) prioritise medium over the content. McLuhan did not see medium as a
channel to express content but instead as a message. This is because he
believes that medium has the ability to change the meaning and message of that
particular content. In other words, different medium deliver messages
differently depending on the character of the medium itself.
People often
mistook the content as they thought that it would give out valuable information
when actually the way the content is delivered is rather important. This is
because when the medium changes, the communication environment would also
change. Thus, medium also has strong influence to change the society as a
whole. Paul Levinson (2000) once said that “whether
one writes with a squiggle (i.e., the alphabet) or a picture (i.e.,
hieroglyphics) can and indeed did change the course of civilization”.
For
example, in the old days, people tend to meet
with their friends just to have a conversation – refer as oral medium. But
today, telephone makes it easier to communicate without even seeing each other
even if our friends are abroad. Sometimes people take for granted where they
can get in touch easily compared to before. This shows that the medium could
shape the society from seeing each other to just talk through phone calls and
people thought that it is better to communicate with those who are far than
those who are near. Hence, McLuhan comes up with an idea called “global
village” where he sees that one day media could make the world become smaller.
Apart
from that, McLuhan’s classification of media might prove that media could
change the human communication and their culture. The classification is
referred to the degree of participation of the audience. It can be either hot
or cold. A media is cold when there is low information load however there is
high participation such as television. This is because McLuhan claimed that it requires more effort on the part of viewer to
determine meaning. Meanwhile, radio can be considered as hot media because
listening did not require a lot of participation from the listener but there is
high information load.
However, according to Neil Postman (2002), who once supported
the McLuhan’s idea on analysis of the content, but he rather looks at the humanistic
point of view about media. He wanted to make people aware that human being live
in two different environments in which one of them is media environment consisting
of technology and machines. It is all about understanding how and whether media
ecology does make human being worst or better. Postman also claimed that one
should take into account the clear facts that each individual would have
different views on what is good and bad for them.
Herbert Blummer (1969) sees society as the product of the
everyday interactions of individuals. In other words, it is individual’s behavior
that shaped the society because meaning is attached in human’s action. Once the
society is developed, the behavior is then organized. The society determines
what kind of behavior is appropriate and acceptable and how the individual
should behave. Thus, Blummer said that it was actually the expression of the
self upon the world.
In conclusion, media has the ability to influence the society
subtly. McLuhan also believes that medium is the message, instead of the
content because the medium is able to change the meaning of the message. On the
other hand, according to Postman, media ecology should also examine whether
media system and environment would actually make people better or worst. Blummer
argued that society is continuously created through the interaction of the
individuals.
REFERENCES:
Griffin, E. (1997). A First
Look at Communication Theory. 8th Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Levinson, P., (2000). McLuhan and Media Ecology. Retreived
from 02/03/2012 from http://www.media-ecology.org/publications/MEA_proceedings/v1/McLuhan_and_media_ecology.html
McLuhan,
M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. (Pp.23-25 & 63-67).
New York: Signet.
Postman, N., (2000). The Humanism of Media Ecology, Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association,
1, 10-12, New York.
