by Tricia Lapointe
Theories of Communications - the work of Innis and McLuhan
To understand cultures more effectively, we should consider the renowned Canadian Media Theorists - Harold Adams Innis and Herbert Marshall McLuhan.
Their studies and publications, analyzed the impact of technological Communications and Media upon cultures.
At the time, Innis’s and McLuhan’s theories were rather revolutionary, and they are, remarkably, still enthusiastically studied today, largely because they both acutely predicted how our current electronic technologies have come to play a central, in fact, deterministic role in how our culture is formed.
Innis was a Canadian political economy professor who had notably written Empire and Communications, now one of the major works in Communication Theory. Innis` central thesis, argues that society is shaped by the influence of primary media technologies within its culture. He developed the concept, in which mediums - have either : a time or space bias.
Media which emphasizes space, promotes an Empire`s expansion of its culture beyond its own borders. Those mediums have to be light in order to travel great distances, such as paper or papyrus, which allowed printed or written communication to dominate. Those mediums centralized the information, but it`s not a particularly sustainable system, because of its medias fragility. On the other hand, time bias, favours the longevity of a culture, by utilizing mediums which are much more durable and therefore will more likely persist over time. For instance, Imperial buildings or even spoken oral traditions, are mediums which are more durable and therefore much more long lasting. Also, buildings and sculptures are an important medium to a society, because they can accurately expresses the cultures values or aspirations, and the context within which they were created. As an example, even ancient, fallen classical civilizations, such as the Egyptian, Greek or Roman Empires, have indelibly left the fingerprints of their culture - through the monuments or values that still are expressed and studied even today. Innis emphasizes that the key of a successful Empire - was to maintain a balance between both the time and space biases.
Also, the climate of animosity between time bias and space bias mediums cause what he called, “a monopolies of knowledge”.
Innis explains this concept, by claiming that a “knowledge elite” forms, and centralizes power through media within a society - one which is likely ignorant of the controlling mechanism, and of this form of centralized knowledge.
In history, centralized knowledge has typically been used to dominate. A modern example would be, Joseph Stalin`s totalitarian communist regime in Russia (c 1941 to 1953). Stalin actively used propaganda and fear throughout the community to maintain his absolute power. The propaganda was widely broadcast through mediums such as radio, posters, newspapers or cinema. so as to maintain his regime, and because society had no other resource of knowledge, or effective recourse they could not meaningfully contradict, or even avoid Stalin’s politically pervasive and dominant view, people were thus controlled, co-opted and imprisoned.
In this relatively simple way, he monopolized information in Russia ( Google ? ) Therefore, it seems rather clear that the ones who command knowledge, ultimately have the power to define reality.
This monopoly contributes to a deep instability in the culture because the ones who are deprived of this power “will search for new competing media to undercut existing power structures, and create new patterns of association and form of knowledge” (Beale) In other words, they will establish a new media to compete with the one already in place to gain more knowledge and more power by restructuring the culture.
Moreover, in Innis`s work, he mentions the notion of non-military cultural invasion - and notes his concern about Canadian`s culture, which is profoundly influenced and even eclipsed by larger empires, such as United States or Great Britain, a dominant, over-reaching "Pax Britannica or Pax Americana".
This non-military cultural invasion occurs in a society, when there is an incursion or imposition of another larger culture which didn`t use military force per se to situate itself within the host culture. It`s through the technological communications or media products which most often facilitates this expansionism - of the dominant empire as well as the ensuing cultural control it affords.
For instance, in our own Canadian culture, we are greatly influenced by the United States "culture" whether it's music, TV shows or movies. The American world view play a defining role in the way Canadian`s culture is shaped. However, today with the Internet and the world wide web, it`s an obvious concept that a culture might more readily influence another because information is shared much more rapidly throughout the world.
During the Innis era, (1930 -5o's), a broad, world wide, invasive communication technology was not developed. The principal technology used at this time was the radio, and to a lesser degree newspapers. Therefore, it was quite an innovative notion, that a culture could be invaded by a greater empire without the use of physical force, through the agency of media.Today, such an observation might be labeled as rather obvious, and the invasion itself, might be seen as benign, like Quarter Pounders in the Forbidden City.
Interestingly, the dominant effects of media on a society - generally aren't perceived by those people who actually live in the culture. The main cause is seemingly - because they are submerged in it, and thus too close to see its actual impact. Therefore, they lack perspective, or an objective view to identify the consequences of media technologies on their lives.
Take as an obvious example, the longer term effects of Social Media like Facebook and Twitter's impact on our ability to interpersonally communicate. Social change is clearly influenced by the communication technologies and the media of choice in a society.
Herbert Marshall McLuhan was deeply influenced by Innis`s works, but he developed other, now renowned concepts, independently. The famous dictum "the Medium is the Message" is one of them.
In order to understand this particular concept, we have to understand how McLuhan defines the words medium and message. For McLuhan, a medium is an extension of ourselves. It`s how we perceive, how we know the world with our senses, the media is in fact, the information.
McLuhan went further, noting that the technology creates an imbalance between the individual`s senses and this influences the fragility of the society. He criticized electronic media because they didn't simulate only one sense, but all the five human senses. Also, he characterizes the message as a change which a new invention has on the individual. Therefore, the mechanism of the medium is the message - is the change which emerges from our sensory experiences; everything we create, and therefore all our ideas and innovations shape this "medium".
Our perceptions of the shifting shape of society - due to a presence of emerging products and mediums, and the recognition of their effects by constantly re-shaping culture. The anticipation these new "devices", should allow increased access to information/power. The upside, at least theoretically, is that the public will be more prepared, more informed, the down side is that there will be a rise of what is called the "digerati", those who control the means of communication, who will, as Karl Marx warned 100 years ago, control the means of production. As a result, they will influence the evolution of the medium, one hopes to serve societies broader interests, rather than their own.
Furthermore, the extension thesis leads to another concept, " hot and cool media "which qualified the sensorial participation of the audience. The qualification depends on the amount of information the media, which expands to one sense, expresses. It also influences the level of the viewer`s participation. The hot media such as radio, print, photography, film and painting is characterized as high definition because it requires a lot of information. As a result, the audience don`t need to get involve. Whereas, cool media like the telephone or the television gives less information to enable the viewer to complete the experience. Due to this low participation, it allows them to be distracted by other mediums.
The phrase, "the Global Village" introduces a new way to see the wider effects of technology in people`s lives. The village, represents people living in a shared community who communicate their village concerns and affairs electronically. The global village theory suggests that the 19th century model of Nation States and territorial borders, has been dramatically diminished because the communication of information is now spread instantaneously throughout the world. This communication is disclosed rapidly though electronic technology in a similar speed of our own senses. This suggests that information is spread in the same amount of time globally than in a same village. As a result there are is no more limitations of physical space or location.
Everyone, is everywhere, simultaneously.
The global village concept, proposes that global issues and concerns can and now does include everyone in human affairs, as were all linked together in our global village.
It sounds like the ideal to include everyone in this whole community. As human beings, we can`t all have the same feeling of belonging to this global community. The inclusion of every human is impossible, at least at this time.We have all different way to experiment with our senses and therefore distinct interpretations of the world. There will be exclusion of those who don`t share the same values and those who participate differently to the movement of this global connectivity.
Those communication theories allow us to better examine how our culture is shaped and influenced by technology. Is our culture balanced between the space and time bias? With the rise of the Internet and Social Media the way we communicate has completely changed.
Gradually, the human contact in communications are compromised by these technologies. People communicate with their surroundings virtually, through computers, cell phones or tablets. Those technologies mostly favour space bias, and the consequence, is there is less oral tradition and human contact in communication and, instead of reading books and literature that encourage imagination which enriches knowledge and intellectual growth, people rely on social media to know the world. People seldom realize that communicating solely through devices degrades human interaction and that virtual mediums diminish our ability to empathize, because we become enamoured by the devices, and are too close to see the effects.
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