MDSA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Neil Postman, Media Ecology, Understanding Media
Document Summary
Media ecology tries to make these ^ specifications explicit. Paradigm shift: a fundamental transformation in how persons know and perceive the world: an example includes language, it changes how we think when we read books, watch tv, etc. The truman show: (cid:862)metaphori(cid:272)all(cid:455) speaki(cid:374)g, (cid:449)e are (cid:374)o(cid:449) all li(cid:448)i(cid:374)g i(cid:374)side our (cid:448)er(cid:455) o(cid:449)(cid:374) tru(cid:373)a(cid:374) ho(cid:449) (cid:863) mark. Increasing density of global communication: negating the significance of distance, m(cid:272)luha(cid:374) (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)luded that i(cid:374)(cid:272)reasi(cid:374)g (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:374)e(cid:272)ti(cid:448)it(cid:455) (cid:449)as gi(cid:448)i(cid:374)g rise to a (cid:862)retribalization(cid:863) of hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) society and engendering heightened anxiety and conflict. Time-biased: durable media such as clay, parchment and strong (decentralized, hierarchical cultures) Space-biased: light and ephemeral media such as tv and internet (centralized, egalitarian cultures) Harold innis suggests that time-biased and space-biased media need to be in balance for civilization to flourish. It freezes words into objects; generates analytic process: originally seen as an intrusion into the life world, as something foreign, for plato, writing.
