The Medium is the Message

As the "leading prophet of the electronic age", Marshall McLuhan describes and analyzes the effects of technology, and how this affects human beings and their relations to one another. Of interest to me is McLuhan's focus on the medium itself. In common thought and practice, the content of media is that which is scrutinized for its potential effects; while McLuhan emphasizes that it is the medium itself that alters perception and changes consciousness (along with society's seeming naivety to this fact). Media as extensions of our selves and our senses create new "social patterns of organization" on which we depend.

In discussing these extensions (especially technology) as having the effect of amputating or modifying other extensions, McLuhan succinctly sums up our state of affairs in that "we have become people who regularly praise all extensions, and minimize all amputations." Thus the "global village" and interrelatedness (in a tribal sense) of all human beings via television and now the Internet, along with the subsequent "amputation" of interpersonal communication with family interaction, etc. What does a simultaneous increase of global and decrease in interpersonal communication signify? Increased knowledge but a decrease in the ability to experience in the here and now, because the here and now has become virtual and can be accessed or "experienced" at any time.

How then, does I2 operate as an extension? In a sense, the collaboration/simultaneous interaction sought through some I2 connections could almost be seen as a way to repair that amputation of interpersonal connection inherent in our current climate. Perhaps it is a unique way to attempt a combination of global interrelatedness and personal experience. In looking at a medium in its infancy such as I2, it seems essential to have an awareness of how media operate as extensions and the subsequent effects this has on society amidst continual change and innovation. Interestingly, McLuhan describes the power of the arts as a radar, to enable us to discover social and psychic targets ahead of time in order to prepare and better cope with them. As arts are combined with media, it will be interesting to continue to examine their use as a perceptual tool.