McLuhan: Filtering the Message

8/10/2019 McLuhan: Filtering the Message

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Filtering the Message

By

Kurt Hargis

ETEC 695: Dr. Nan Adams


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becomes how do we teach such information. Are students to be expected to learn

information from rote memory when their time learning could be spent on understanding

the how and why of the information they are learning? Does remembering the variables

in the formula have anything to do with understanding the formula? If a person can

access the formula at will and be taught the deeper meaning of the formula, we should

always strive for the deeper learning. This requires filtering. We have to filter what can

be gathered quickly from the Internet and teach students how to learn deeply from the

information. By learning this way, children could accelerate the pace and expand the

depth at which they learn. In addition, communication plays a vital role in ways never

imagined in such long ago times as the 1980s. Then, if a teacher asked a question, the

only people to answer it were the ones in a classroom. Now, through tools such as chat

rooms to videoconferencing, the classroom itself might be all over the world.

However, there has to be a caveat. Students have to be taught what is not to be

used. The Onion regularly fools readers into thinking a fake news story is real. People

are often willing to accept what they read. Very few filter what they read. Sometimes

people often filter too much as well. McLuhan says, its the environment that changes

the people, not the technology(McLuhan M. , The medium is the message, 1974).

People have a tough time understanding the change. People are used to people of

authority, such as the writers of Encyclopedia Britannica, in giving us the information. It

is hard to accept the democratic nature of Wikipedia. Wikipedia tends to be the victim too

often in education. If one were to look up HTML5 in both Wordbook and Wikipedia,

one would find that the Wikipedia article has much more information written at higher


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level of technical writing than Wordbook*. Yet, most teachers persist that Wikipedia

should not be used because anyone can write the article. Well, that defense is worthless

because anyone can write and publish a book in today's world as well. The environment

has changed and self-publishing, especially in e-book form, is a much simpler process

than it was 25 years ago. Again, filtering is the key. A good Wikipedia article is similar

to a good research paper in a graduate level class in that it will be well documented. A

good research paper cites sources and contains a bibliography. A good Wikipedia article

will do the same. If teachers would teach this process to students, students would learn

not only to filter their readings in Wikipedia but also on other web pages and in books.

They would ask, "Where is the source of this information?" and "Can I trust this

source?" Filtering would give them control over technology (and it this case it can be

book, television, or the internet) in order to wield it in such a way that the technology

would become a tool for their own learning goals. In the case of Wikipedia, a student

should not cite the article for their research, since a Wikipedia article is a research paper,

but they should be taught how to use the sources in a Wikipedia article. In other words,

the student would have filtered the information to use the Wikipedia article as a very

specifically knowledgeable librarian. They have used filtering to turn technology into a

tool.

While filtering is important in the world of television and books, the Internet has put

it front and center. The Internet is, according to McLuhan, both hot and cold. One can

watch television or read a book. One can play video games or listen to any piece of music

they choose. The Internet is the modern library of all other forms of media man has

*I did this experiment recently with my school Librarian in here attempts to have me use World book because the district pays

for it. Not only did Wikipedia have more information, WorldBook rerouted me to the plain HTML entry.


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developed. With so many choices, how does one choose? The goal of technological

education has to be to teach students how to filter the world of the Internet to better

themselves. This does not mean people should not look up videos of cats having Jedi

light saber duels, because entertainment is important. It means teaching them how to

filter the tools they will need to put in their toolbox to solve problems whether it is math

homework, reading assignments, or fixing a kitchen sink. When they understand how to

filter all the billions of billions of bytes of information that exists in the world today, they

will make technology a tool. This will make them the masters of technology and not

slaves to it.

Works Cited

McLuhan, M. (1968). Information explosition as culture. Retrieved July 2014, fromMarshall McLuhan Speaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/electric-age/1968-

information-explosion-as-culture.php

McLuhan, M. (1974). The medium is the message. Retrieved July 2014, from MarshallMcLuhan Speaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/sayings/1974-the-medium-is-the-message.php

McLuhan, M. (1965). Vision of the Future. Retrieved July 2014, from Marshall McLuhanSpeaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/prophecies/1965-vision-of-the-

future.php

Playboy Magazine. (1994). Marshal McLuhan Interview from Playboy, 1969. (P.

Rogaway, Editor) Retrieved 2014, from UCDavis Computer Science:

http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring07/mcluhan.pdf

Documents

McLuhan: Filtering the Message