Solace in sound: Glenn Gould’s electronic solitude

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Steven Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Musical Tradition ◽  
General Systems ◽  
The Media ◽  
Musical Traditions ◽  
Media Environments

Inspired by Marshall McLuhan, pianist Glenn Gould dedicated his career to polemics against the concert hall tradition. Through radio/television broadcasts, written works and contentious recorded catalogue, Gould advocated adoption of the new electric media environment of the mid-twentieth century, challenging musical traditions of centuries past. Gould also used telephonic technology to mediate contact with the outside world. Gould has been acknowledged by such authors as Paul Théberge as putting into practice the ideas of Marshall McLuhan. In this study, I follow Robert Logan’s work in media ecology and general systems and investigate Gould’s polemics through systems theory. In particular, I employ Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, offering a model of society through which we may observe the effects of electric technology via the notion of functional de-differentiation of social systems as discussed by authors such as Erkki Sevänen. I suggest that Gould’s polemics are not just commentary on musical tradition but the media environments in which those traditions arose and show how we too can find solace in sound.

McLuhan on Shakespeare and Shakespeare as McLuhan

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Linton
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Over 400 years ago, during the early days of the print revolution, William Shakespeare offered insights into the media environment of his times. Though he was a poet and playwright, his observations were strikingly similar to those of Marshall McLuhan in the twentieth century. In every one of his plays there appear media references: books, letters, reading and writing. This essay examines how he viewed the impact of literacy and printing on both individuals and the society at large.

Ethics and the study of media as environments1

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance Strate
Keyword(s):  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Electronic Media ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Ethical Evaluation ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
The Human Condition

Despite the different positions that Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman took in regard to moral or ethical judgements, common ground can be found in the insistence that we first need to work towards understanding media, and only then can we take part in their ethical evaluation. Media ecology, as the study of media as environments and the study of environments as media, is also the study of the conditions we live under, that in turn condition us. Based in part on the philosophy of Hannah Arendt, the human condition can be divided into three basic categories, the symbolic, the technological and the biophysical, with the possible addition of a fourth, the spiritual. As part of the human condition, ethics can be considered a medium with a message of its own, a medium that is altered as we move from oral to chirographic, typographic and electronic media environments. Building on this understanding, we can develop a media ecology ethics, and to that end, some basic elements of a media ecology ethics are introduced.

scholarly journals Soviet Films in the New Media Environment: Idealization or Discretization of the Past?

2014 ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Anna A. Novikova ◽  
Varvara P. Chumakova
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
New Media ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media ◽  
Rural Dwellers

Analyses how Russian viewers of the multichannel TV perceive narrative and aesthetic clichés of the Soviet movies. The influence of Soviet clichés on social construction of today’s reality, especially on attitudes of the rural dwellers towards the Past is in the focus of the paper, the authors of which follow the media ecology approach

scholarly journals Reframing the Medium Theory: McLuhan, Meyrowitz, and Luhmann

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (49) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Cheng Liu
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Medium Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Medium System ◽  
The Media

This essay examines the concept of medium and other medium/media theories. Compared to the emphasis Marshall McLuhan and Joshua Meyrowitz place on the direct impact of the media on how people understand the world, the major theme of this paper is that such impact cannot be regarded as so direct, and their theories can be reframed with Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. Thus, we can distinguish the medium system from the psychological and other social systems, and at the same time structurally couple with them. The concept of the medium system has not been envisioned by Luhmann; he constructed and explained a general theory of society and of social systems. In spite of this, his theoretical insights provide the basis for extension of his work to frame the medium theory.

scholarly journals Mediated Skewed Diffusion of Issues Information: A Theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630511880031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bree McEwan ◽  
Christopher J. Carpenter ◽  
Jill E. Hopke
Keyword(s):  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Interpersonal Processes ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Societal Issues ◽  
Modern Media ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Media

The modern media ecology has changed drastically over the last decade yet scholarly theoretical perspectives lag behind lay theories regarding news diffusion making it difficult to fully articulate and understand the processes driving dissemination of information and persuasion across networks and media contexts. The proposed theoretical framework takes into account extant research on the multiple mechanisms, specifically, cognitive ego involvement, the media environment, and interpersonal processes that operate in concert to influence the way information about societal issues is diffused through digital communication channels. The theoretical framework of mediated skewed diffusion of issues information provides 11 testable propositions. These are put forth to provide a foundation and encourage future research on information dissemination, online persuasion, and position polarization.

Modernism and the Media History of Obscenity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Forster
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Media History ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Friedrich Kittler ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Lady Chatterley's Lover ◽  
The Way

This chapter surveys the history of obscenity in English jurisprudence, from the invention of obscene libel as a crime in the eighteenth century through the 1857 Obscene Publications Act and its 1959 reform. It draws on Marshall McLuhan and Friedrich Kittler to argue that the invention of obscenity, and its subsequent definitions and redefinitions, reflect changes in media ecology and technology. It begins by examining the 1960 trial of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, before surveying the history of obscenity, and concluding with readings of the way the technologically mediated character of obscenity is reflected in both James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as Young Man and Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

scholarly journals Non-boundaries of style represented in fashion Instagram: a social media platform as a digital space–time

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungeun Suh
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Nonlinear Boundary ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Social Media Platform ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
Media Platform ◽  
The Media

Abstract This study qualitatively examines the “non-boundaries of style” represented in fashion on a social media platform. The term “non-boundary” refers to a nonlinear boundary or distinction based on the more flexible time and space in the digital era, rather than a space at a certain time. Based on a theoretical review of media ecology, that is, how the media environment transforms human experience and affects society and culture, the spatial and temporal aspects of digital platforms were characterized as transcendental, open social, realistic virtual, and aesthetic spaces in everyday lives. The fashion-related images from the Instagram account of global fashion influencer Susanna Lau (@susiebubble), uploaded from May 2012–June 2019, were then analyzed, including their titles, caption content, hashtags, and followers’ commentary. Analysis showed that the images represent a digital lifestyle and trace the non-boundaries of style across the binaries of work–leisure, public–private, real–virtual, and geography–culture.

scholarly journals Understanding Cultural Convergence through Media Ecology

Comunicar ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (33) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavio Islas
Keyword(s):  
Media Ecology ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Cultural Consumption ◽  
Knowledge Communities ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
Cultural Convergence ◽  
Communication Environment ◽  
The Media ◽  
Medios De Comunicacion

Before the Internet, the different media had specifically defined functions and markets. However, since the emergence of the Internet and digital communication, the same content can be found right across the media; this is known as cultural convergence. This media crossing anticipates the coming of new markets of cultural consumption. Based on media ecology, with specific reference to the thesis developed by Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, and Henry Jenkins, cultural convergence is studied as a complex communication environment. Cultural convergence modifies the operative procedures of media industries. However, the most significant changes can be found within the knowledge communities. Antes de Internet cada medio de comunicación tenía funciones y mercados perfectamente definidos. Sin embargo, a consecuencia del formidable desarrollo de Internet y de las comunicaciones digitales, el mismo contenido hoy puede circular a través de distintos medios de comunicación. Esa es la convergencia cultural. El relato transmediático anticipa el advenimiento de nuevos mercados de consumo cultural. Con base en la ecología de medios y particularmente considerando las tesis de Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman y Henry Jenkins, es analizada la convergencia cultural como complejo ambiente comunicativo. La convergencia cultural modifica los procedimientos de operación de las industrias mediáticas. Los cambios más significativos, sin embargo, se presentan en las comunidades de conocimiento.

IAINBAXTER&raisonnE: Catalogues raisonnés and the ontological turn

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-16
Author(s):  
Adam Lauder
Keyword(s):  
Linked Data ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
Library And Information Science ◽  
Marshall Mcluhan ◽  
The Media ◽  
Catalogue Raisonne ◽  
Ontological Turn

IAINBAXTER&raisonnE is an experimental catalogue raisonné of the conceptual artist IAIN BAXTER &, former President of the ‘critical company’ N.E. Thing Co. Ltd. (NETCO). NETCO creatively re-purposed the media ecology of Marshall McLuhan to challenge Conceptual art’s utilitarian ‘aesthetic of administration’ as well as the categorical assumptions informing library and information science that it mimicked. This article describes the main features of the prototype and argues in favour of an approach to developing catalogues raisonnés with artist-centred designs, for which the principles of linked data may be unduly restrictive or even incompatible.

scholarly journals News Media Performance Evaluated by National Audiences: How Media Environments and User Preferences Matter

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desiree Steppat ◽  
Laia Castro Herrero ◽  
Frank Esser
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Media Environment ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Performance ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Media Choices

Media fragmentation and polarization have contributed to blurring the lines between professional and non-professional journalism. Internationally, more fragmented-polarized media environments are often associated with the emergence of non-professional news providers, the weakening of journalistic standards, and the segmentation of audiences along ideological leanings. Furthermore, these environments are home to partisan and alternative news media outlets, some of which try to actively undermine the credibility of traditional mainstream media in their reporting. By following an audience-centric approach, this study investigates the consequences of more fragmented-polarized media environments and consumption habits on users’ perceptions of news media performance. We use online-survey data from five countries that differ in the extent of fragmentation and polarization in the media environment (CH = 1,859, DK = 2,667, IT = 2,121, PL = 2,536, US = 3,493). We find that perceptions of high news media performance are more likely to be expressed by citizens from less fragmented-polarized media environments. Positive perceptions of news media performance are also stronger among users of traditional media, and those who inform themselves in a more attitude-congruent manner. By contrast, citizens from more fragmented-polarized media environments and users of alternative news media tend to express less satisfaction with news media performance. Based on these results, we argue that perceptions of news media performance among news users are shaped by their individual media choices as well as by the composition of the news media environments that surrounds them.

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