Medium is the Message
‘The way we send and receive information is more important than the message itself.’ Each medium “adds itself on to what we already are”, realizing “amputations and extensions” to our senses and bodies, shaping them in a new technical form. Every new medium always contains traces of various media that came before it.
During the pre-alphabet societies, the dominant sensory organ for social orientation was the ear -”hearing was believing.” With the introduction of the phonetic alphabet, the man began to rely heavily on his eye for comprehension. An alphabet in itself carries no meaning. Its simply a motif created using various smaller parts. These motifs/ alphabets need to be ‘strung together in a line, bead-like, and in a prescribed order’. Hence logic became a linear thought process wherein the concept progresses straight from one stage to another with a demarcated starting point and an ending point.
The advent of print media infused a shade of ‘individualism’ with the message. Essentially it allowed an individual to express his/ her own private opinions. While the printing cultivated a sense of ‘authorship’ by tagging individual intellectual as an economic commodity, Xerography allowed almost anybody to become an author/ publisher.
Today, we live in a global village wherein the concept of ‘time’ & ‘space’ no longer apply. In this hyper-connected world, the speed at which the information travels is so high that we can no longer rely on our eyes/ ears alone for comprehension as they are too slow. ‘As soon as information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information. Our electrically-configured world has forced us to move from the habit of data classification to the mode of pattern recognition.’ We need to think at a macro level systemic level for every little change can cause widespread upheaval in the world.
McLuhan also explains ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ forms of media in the book, Understanding Media. He illustrates how different media demand varying degrees of participation by the consumer. ‘Hot’ medium enhances one single sense. It is so dense with information that it requires little no effort from the consumer. In contrast, the ‘cold’ medium needs relatively low cognitive effort to determine the meaning. For example, a video when watched on TV becomes a cool medium. It invites more participation and gives more control to the viewer. He/ she can choose to switch it on/off, rewind/forward. Conversely, when it is projected on a movie screen as a film, it becomes a hot medium with little or no participation.
However the media is changing rapidly, and hence it needs to be measured on a scale rather than as dichotomous terms. For example, print was considered a hot medium since reading in an immersive activity. However, if you speak the same words as social interaction it becomes ‘cold medium’.
When we stare at our screens, we tune out everything else. Hence the same words in form of messages, texting, games on digital platform invite more interaction yet wouldn’t qualify as a cold medium.
Media can shape cultures. Today technology has given rise to an entirely different kind of literature. Perhaps this is the reason why we have witnessed a sudden influx of open sources design and an overall decentralised economy. For example how we understand humour has undergone a radical change from traditional oral jokes to memes/ gifs/ emojis to an influx of stand up comedy shows. The current media allows anyone and everyone to produce and consume data making comedy a borderless world. One can tweet something funny or post a funny article. People can even come together to create humorous experiences, build and boost memes/ jokes through collective comedy. This example only highlights the theory that each medium has its unique nature and rules.
This is where Oulipo presents a breakthrough concept. It is a part of the literary movement called combinatorial literature, in which authors used math and combinatorial generation as a tool for inspiration. It is an attempt to break away from the constraints of literature and its print media by creating new rules. It invites the reader’s participation.
This left me with an interesting thought. Perhaps all media are transitional. In that case, how might we change the rules of the current media to generate new ideas, forms and concepts?
