Final Essay

Cong Cui
0549227
Tutorial 11
November 29, 2007
CMST 1A03
TA Diego
Sevigny

Half a century ago, Marshal McLuhan declared to the world that all forms of media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values. A man before his time, McLuhan’s social perspective on the emerging trends in human interactions with the media proved to be a lasting contribution as the society progressed into a new electronic era. At the time of their creation, his premises regarding how media would influence the message were considered copious at best. However, social advancement in the fields and integrations of media, technology and internet quickly combined to form a society similar to his original concept of the global village. As society progressed, McLuhan’s theories became recognized for their brilliance and insightfulness. Just as he had predicted, the medium, in this case being the advancement of technology, essentially became an extension of the human body. In the social environment, these artificial extensions create changes in social effect with their mere presence, regardless of their content materials. (McLuhan, 237)
In definition, medium is the channel or means to transmit and communicate. The conventional school of thinking describes medium as a mere container of information. It does not alter, nor contaminate the content. However, in The Medium is the Message, McLuhan reversed the concept by disputing that the medium is not purely a container of certain content, but is a message in itself. The form of the medium and the way the message is delivered will determine how the actual content will be received by its intended audience. (McLuhan, 238) On a broad scale, a medium affects the society, not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. Therefore, McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the content they carry, to be the focus of the study.
McLuhan’s theory of the medium is the message can be explicated in correlation with Alia’s article, Technology and the Circumpolar Village. This particular article addressed the impact of introducing new information technology and medium channels to previously technologically primitive cultures. (Alia, 140) The author used the relatively unexposed Canadian aboriginal community’s experiences with information technology as an example to demonstrate the significance of medium over the actual message. Habitually, aboriginal populations living in remote locations communicated with each other exclusively through the use of direct human contact. The free flow of information was severely limited by the surrounding geographical boundaries. However, with the recent development of information networks in remote territories, the aboriginals had quietly but efficiently reformed their pre-existing model of communication network in order to adapt to the new concept of information highway. The presence of innovative technology such as World Wide Web in these remote areas allowed isolated communities to remain in constant touch with the rest of the world. The local population thrived with the sudden abundance of knowledge made available by the network. Traditional nomadic man to man contacts reduced in usage as the new tech savvy aboriginals preferred to communicate electronically. While the cyberspace connection does not necessarily replace direct human contact, it allowed people’s mind to wander at will free from restrictions. It can be argued that whatever information the aboriginal users chose to view on the new information network is not the catalyst that brought forward drastic changes to their social structure. But in fact, the mere availability of the means to communicate with the outside world delivered the crucial strike that freed the aboriginal community from its limits. Similar to the train station example used in McLuhan’s statement, he argued that the parcels trains carry to a city is the not the sole catalyst that would initiate changes to a city’s outlook. In fact, it is the presence of a fast, reliable transportation network linking the city to other destinations that is the key to revolutionizing the city’s economy. For that reason, the messages being delivered over the new information network does not necessarily hold significant value, but the presence of the network that allowed for such delivery is the focal point of understanding human communications.
Additionally, Alia suggested in her article that internet is an inherently less assimilationist medium compared to television. The internet, with massive numbers of users across the world is rapidly becoming the primary medium of expression for the voices of individuals and groups. With its interactive and descriptive nature, the use of internet allows for more effective communications compared to traditional, one dimensioned technology such as radio and television. Internet usage requires active participation on the part of the user contrast to the pure spectator status observed by television viewers. Despite its advantages, internet comes with its own set of problems. The article acknowledged the fact that with the introduction of internet to aboriginal communities, these once unique cultures began to lose some of their cultural distinctiveness. Slowly but surely, distinct cultures began to lose their own identities with influences from around the world to form a unanimous global identity, thus resulting in McLuhan’s concept of the global village.
According to the course text Understanding Human Communication, there are several factors to consider when a person is delivering a message to another. In the linear communications model, a sender encodes ideas and feelings into a message, and conveys them to a receiver who decodes them. (Adler, Rodman and, Sevigny 14) The authors labeled the method of delivery as the foremost important factor that would lead to changes to the reception of the message. For instance, it is generally frowned upon to end an intimate relationship via e-mail. The e-mail may contain an identical message to what would be relayed in a face to face meeting, but would not achieve the same effect. It is apparent that the sender encodes not only the ideas, but feelings as well into the message. The receiver who decodes the message would understand the written message along with the peripheral information that can be gathered from the sender’s choice of communication channel. Predominantly, the perception of the recipient depends largely upon the manner of which the message is presented. In the case of intimate discussions, direct human contact is regarded as the more personal and suitable method of exchanging communication. The physical close proximity between the communicators in point of fact brings more legitimacy and sincerity to the topic being discussed. In support of McLuhan’s theory, the course text also refers to nonverbal behaviours such as positional postures as other means of medium acting to enhance and clarify the original message. These non-verbal aspects of communication serve as another medium to enhance the effects of the message. In the end, the content is only half as important as the sender’s degree of control over the receiver’s response. Despite the similarity in the meaning of the message, the choice of delivering channel is crucial in order to convey the necessary sentiment. When faced with the decision to choose the appropriate means to relay a message, the sender must consider the alternation in consequences with changes in the presentation manner.
In summary, Marshall McLuhan’s theoretical framework of the medium becoming the message is in agreement with the works of Alia and the readings in the course text. Alia’s examination of the impact of internet on technologically primitive cultures revealed how a community changed with the availability of information technology. She also pointed out how medium plays an influential role in shaping the way we think. The media, charged with the duty to deliver supposedly unbiased information, were found to be in control of what people say and think their choice of communication channel and manner. This resulted in the mass media’s ability to change and control entire human activities in the society. Through the course reading, the authors discussed in detail of the communication model and the different outcomes that would arrive with the same message being presented through different medium. Both writings are in support of McLuhan’s famous theory of the medium becoming part of the message. In essence of his work, McLuhan directed the focus away from the traditionally accepted dialectic response to the rhetoric response. By doing so, he allowed for the shift in perspective from the content of the text to the persuasive strength of the text.
















Works Cited
Adler B., Ronald, George Rodman, and Alexandre Sevigny. “Human Communication: What and Why.” Understanding Human Communication. Ninth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2006. 14 – 15.

Alia, V. “Technology and the Circumpolar Village.” Introduction to Communication. Ed. Dr. Alexandre Sevigny. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, 2006. 139 – 152.

McLuhan, M. "The Medium Is The Message." Introduction to Communication. Ed. Dr. Alexandre Sevigny. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, 2006. 235 – 241.

Sevigny, A. "Lecture No. 4." Introduction to Communication. Ed. Dr. Alexandre Sevigny. October 2007.