a 2015 student paper

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The study of communications “is the study of techniques to allow for the reliable transmission of information.” In order to understand the study of communications, it is essential to consider two well-known Canadian communication theorists, Harold Adams Innis and Herbert Marshall McLuhan. First, Harold Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy, he has written several books on media and communication theories (Empire and Communications). However, he is well-known for the thesis he proposes in his book Empire and Communications; in order to preserve time and occupy space empires had to have a balance between both time-biased media and space-biased media. In a nutshell his thesis was how media influences the rise and fall of empires.

Herbert Marshall McLuhan was another communication theorist and philosopher. He is the author of many influential books such as Medium is the Message, The Mechanical Bride, The Guttenberg Galaxy and Understanding Media. McLuhan is well-known for the idea of this “global village” which he described as an “electronic nervous system (the media) was rapidly integrating the planet.” In this paper an analysis on Innis’ thesis, on the use of media and the influence it has on empires such as the Egyptians and Babylonians and how McLuhan’s idea of the global village can reflect Innis’ work.

In order to understand Innis’ thesis it is essential to go over certain terms such as space and time biased media. Space-biased media is defined as the diffusion of knowledge throughout great distance. Examples of space-biased media are paper and writing. The positive characteristics of space-biased media are that they are light and can be spread over the world with ease. Therefore, this is why space-biased media is associated with the idea expansion of an empire, the growth of states’ authorities and decentralization institutions -distribution of the administrative functions of (a central authority) among several local authorities. Certain negative characteristics are that space-biased media does not last long because paper degrades which evidently means that it is not reliable in preserving past events in the world’s history. On the other hand time-biased media is meant to be a source which will last throughout to future generations. Examples of time-biased media are clay, stone and oral culture which Innis associates to religion and education. The positive characteristics of time-biased media is that they are durable meaning that they will last a long time unlike space-biased media. These terms will form the basis for Innis’ thesis – in order to preserve time and occupy space; empires had to juggle both of them in order to strive for success. Therefore, in order to demonstrate if Innis’ thesis is in fact correct it is essential to go over some of the past empires which he discusses in Empire and Communications.

The first empire in question is one on the Nile, Egypt. The Nile was the heart of Egypt; the Egyptians depended on it for their economic income. The Nile was seen as “the principle of order and centralization” (Innis, p. 12). The invention of a writing system called hieroglyphs (pictorial) in Egypt came about by the social situations of the time. Innis states the fact that for a long time Egypt was an absolute monarchy. Therefore, there was always one ruler in this type of monarchy. During the reign of absolute monarchy in Egypt pyramids played an important religious role. Examining the hieroglyphs in these pyramids points to their true function as a funerary ritual in order to aid the pharaoh or key Egyptian figure makes his way to the afterlife. All of this history has transcended itself by time-biased media because hieroglyphs were carved into stone tablets which have been preserved to this very day. Therefore, this means that their civilization has survived until this very day. However, after the abolition of absolute monarchy a democratic system had been put in place (Innes, p.15). As a result of this political shift, Egypt went from being a time-biased media by using stone as the medium of communication to a more space-biased media with the use of papyrus sheets as being the new medium. When papyrus made its way to being the dominant medium of communication it “expanded its control over space but also required the priestly class to share power with an emerging administrative bureaucracy.” The perfect balance in creating an empire was to fuse both “religion and political organizations” (Innis, p. 25). This balance which Innis discusses is called the monopolies of knowledge.

After Innis introduced his time and space-biased medias he came up with the monopolies of knowledge concept. This concept was created from the hostility between both time and space-biased medias, where one of these medias dominated the other in one civilization which lead to the creation of monopolies of knowledge. Innis refers to knowledge as being literature and sciences like important information such as economic records and census data. He basically stated that those who had total “control of knowledge through dominant media of a given civilization had total control of reality.” Therefore, those who are in control of knowledge are able tell the people of a given civilization what knowledge actually is. A good example of people in control of knowledge is the Nazi party propaganda master Joseph Goebbels. The reason why the Nazis had the power over the people was because they were the ones defining knowledge. With the use of propaganda the Nazi party fed lies to the German people. To illustrate their use of propaganda they used poster, radio messages and books in order to show the evil of the Jewish population.

Herbert Marshall McLuhan –“a technological determinist”- (Sharon Zechowski) can be seen as one of Harold Innis’ disciples. McLuhan has introduced many famous concepts such as hot and cold media, the “Medium is the Message” and the notion of the global village. In order to understand his famous dictum, the global village it is essential to shed light on his hot and cool media theory.

Hot media is exclusive meaning that there is “low participation from the viewer because of their high resolution” (Regent University). Therefore, what this means is that there is not much information needed to be filled in by the user. An example of hot media can be the radio because it does not require a lot of participation by its listeners. Whereas cool media is inclusive, this means that there is the need for high participation because of their low resolution. The reason why cool media is “highly participatory” is because the viewer must focus in order to “fill in the blanks” that the medium is portraying. The best example of cool media is the television because it requires the viewers to participate in order to understand the message which is being sent over the medium in question which is the television.

Marshall McLuhan put his theory of hot and cool media into practice by analyzing one of the most important political events in American history, the 1960 Kennedy and Nixon debates. John F. Kennedy used cool media, the television in order to attract the audience. Therefore, the television was not a medium that used one of the senses but two of them, seeing and hearing. Kennedy was known for his good looks hence it was a good idea to portray him on the television. On the other hand, Richard Nixon’s’ electoral campaign thought that Nixon would be better fit for the radio which is a hot medium. Nixon was known for his debates as being one of his key methods in getting the listeners attention.

Another key concept introduced by McLuhan is one of his favourite and most used expressions, “The Medium is the Message.” This concept is hard to define but in the simplest form it can be defined as “the medium being the greatest impact upon the socio-cultural environment rather than the information that is being transmitted.” Examples of different mediums include the radio, newspapers, computers, television, books, movies and much more. A good example that best illustrates “The Medium is the Message” can be observed between both comic books and films. McLuhan explains that both these mediums are interpreted by our vision. While watching movies, viewers require minimal amount of effort in order to understand what they are watching – hence the visual message is clear. Contrary, in comic books, the reader must focus their vision more in order to pick out the visual message. The reason why comic books require the reader to pay closer attention is because they do not show as much detail as movies do. Comic books are made up of still pictures whereas movies are made up of movement and expression. In both the cases, the focus is on the medium and the message it sends as opposed to the content of the film or comic.

An analysis of McLuhan’s key theories comes all down to this, the global village. The global village can be defined as “an electronic nervous system (media) that was shaping the planet.” For example, any event that was occurring in one part of the world could be shared with the world in seconds. Therefore, what McLuhan is trying to demonstrate is how small our world has become because of our technology ruled world. It has become the size of a village, where everyone knows everything about everyone. In McLuhan’s book The Guttenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man sheds light on the effects media had on European culture. He talks about how Guttenberg and how the invention of the printing presses shaped both European culture and people. Guttenberg can be seen as one of the key innovators who created a medium that enabled people to communicate throughout the world. There is so much information in the world, both trivial and historical. The global village concept is proof of that. A real life example of the global village put in practice can be seen when the FIFA World Cup plays on television, radio and the internet. People from all across the world will know who won the tournament regardless if they have the necessary communications or not. Information travels fast and as a result has defined our world as the global village.

In my opinion, some of McLuhan’s concepts are applicable to our world. The three concepts analyzed above (hot and cool media, “Medium is the Message” and the global village) are all terms that can be seen in both present and past societies. First off, the whole notion of “the Medium is the Message” can be applied to todays with the use of a good example, the iPod. In this example, we see that the iPod message is neither through the music it plays nor the videos but is the way that the iPod (medium) has revolutionized the world. The iPod has changed our society and how we live our lives. Therefore, the iPod can be seen as the “extension of ourselves”. What this extension means is that the iPod demonstrates people’s individuality. The hot and cool media concepts can be applied to our lives. The example given above about the radio being a hot media and the television being cool media can be applied to our generation. The radio fills our minds with information without having the listener participate, all they do is listening and the message sinks in. On the other hand, we have cool media such as the television which requires a lot of attention from the viewer in order for them to fill in the blanks that this medium is conveying. When watching the television a lot of our senses are being used such as hearing and sight. His last concept, the global village can be seen all across the world today. A good example that illustrates the negative connotations of the evolution of a global village might lead to “cultural domination by more developed countries.” One of the main problems with the possible effects associated with the global village is that powerful countries like the United States of America’s media will “eventually have control the cultural standards by which the rest of the world will have to live.”

After analyzing both Innis and McLuhan it is essential to have gathered the key concepts which they explore and elaborate. It is also important to see these concepts in practice and how they have affected and will keep affecting the way we live in our global village.

Works Cited

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