Readings "The New Media Reader"

"The New Media Reader"- Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan defines media as either being hot and cold. A hot medium is something that is high in definition and low in participation, such as reading. A cold medium is described as being high in participation and low in information, such as television.

I am quite receptive to this perspective since I have been immersed in it for the past four years. I am a CMJ major and have had Paul Grosswiler for many classes so I have had my fair share of Marshall McLuhan influence.

Transformation also appears in McLuhan's definition by the way of a global village. Because of the transforming technologies, our current culture is saturate with information from around the globe. This saturation creates a theoretical global village that is quite exciting in terms of information sharing.

Another part of McLuhan's theories is the idea of auto-amputation. We as a society are harming ourselves by submersing ourselves so much in our technology. With each new technology we are amputating another useless body part or brain function. Soon, we might not even have to walk anywhere.... SCARY!