The message has transcended media. The medium is no longer the massage. McLuhan’s insight was visionary and accurate for a time. Now the same message can reach multitudes simultaneously through multiple media formats. Messages are no longer shaped for one medium upon which they travel. Media are redefining media.
The medium is no longer the massage.
I’m assuming you mean “message” and I’m wondering when the medium ever was the message? The medium is just a vessel for the message, not the message itself.
I haven’t taken the time to look into McLuhan and probably won’t and I’m just now jumping in on this blog with no past knowledge, so forgive me if I’m completely ignorant.
Nope, it’s massage. McLuhan’s original book title used massage, and later editions changed it to message. He could have meant the format massaged the message into a different end result, it’s also been speculated that he meant to play on the “mass age” of media.
And it’s theory. He was a big believer that the Gutenberg press started the industrial age. I have just requested all of his books again from the library because it’s been a while since I read him and my copies are IN BOXES :(
but my thinking is that he was correct in that the message was designed for a specific format. tv versus radio versus print. and the rapid development of all of these areas affected how the messages were approached.
now the media companies are being forced to learn all of the formats and integrate them. reporters are photographers are podcasters. rather than shaping your message to a format and intended audience, the audiences chooses the format they access it in. now the medium is a social system.
Next entry: Distraction and Information Overload
Previous entry: dissertation progress