Thursday - McLuhan's concept in context

Want was McLuhan's theory? 

The medium is more important than the media.

The WAY we are watching, the transformative power of technology on a society is more important than WHAT we are consuming.

Here's some thoughts on that...

Have a watch of this short summary of Charles Leadbeater's book (We Think)

His main points are outlined below...

• THE POWER OF THE INTERNET = INFINITE INFORMATION 

• INFORMATION IS CRUCIALLY SHARED, AND INTERPRETED (YOUTUBE IS A VEHICLE FOR THIS)

• DEMOCRACY THROUGH COLLABORATION, LESS CORPORATION CONTROL – ROLE OF YOUTUBE

• ONLINE MEDIA - MORE PEOPLE HAVE A VOICE

  Is technology democratising?

  to make (something) available to all people : to make it possible for all people to understand (something) 

Think about adding the following examples of technology in a new light...

• ‘FREE’ CONTENT, OPEN ACCESS E.G. YOUTUBE 

• AUDIENCES EXPRESS THEMSELVES, NO CONSTRAINTS FROM CONTROLLING MEDIA PRODUCERS E.G. UGC

• POWER TO THE PEOPLE – UPHOLDING TRADITIONS OF FREE SPEECH E.G. TWITTER/CITIZEN JOURNALISM

• PROSUMER (GAUNTLETT) CHALLENGING TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF THE PRODUCER/CONSUMER MODEL

• A CHALLENGE TO CULTURAL HEGEMONY AND GLOBALISATION

1. Youtube - example of prosumerism

INSTAGRAM GOOD PLATFORM FOR MEDIATING IDEOLOGY  THROUGH EMOTIVE IMAGERY

FREE SPEECH EXAMPLE USING SOCIAL MEDIA – EXTINCTION REBELLION