The 4 Questions Of Media - By Marshall Mcluhan

The tetrad of media effects was devised by theorist Marshall McLuhan as a way of understanding the effects of a technology on society . The four laws, which he framed as questions on which to reflect, are as follows: 

1. What does the technology enhance or intensify?2. What does the technology displace or render obsolete?3. What does the technology recover that was previously lost?4. What does the technology produce or become when pushed to an extreme?

"We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." Marshall McLuhan

1. ENHANCEAn individual's or organisation's use of technology in a new way extends the reach of body and mind: the car can be seen as an extension of the feet; a microscope as an extension of the eye; an engine an extension of our feet and arms, a library an extension of the mind. 'What does the artifact enhance or intensify or make possible or accelerate?'.

2. OBSOLESCEThe new media subsumes older forms of media. 'What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new 'organ'. New technologies keep expanding the limited number of senses and motor skills. The content of the old technology becomes incorporated into the new, further reaching technology. Writing made speech "obsolete", just as printing made writing "obsolete". The old technology is not eliminated, but loses its initial reputation and effectiveness.

3. RETRIEVEHumans have a limited set of senses and motor skills. The current media stimulate and reinforce only some of them. For example, the internet enhanced the visual senses over the aural. A successful new medium will "retrieve" and enhance a sense or skill that the current media do not stimulate. Since the number of senses and skills is limited, an older, outdated medium had probably addressed this sense or skill. 'What recurrence or retrieval of earlier actions and services is brought into play simultaneously by the new form?' 4. REVERSEEvery innovation has within itself the seeds of its reversal. When a technology is pushed to its limit, it risks reversing the target audience's enthusiasm for its original benefits into complementary or even opposite emotions, e.g. an over-extended automobile culture that is stressed by traffic jams and smog, longs for a pedestrian lifestyle. 

 

Photograph tetrad case study

How has the internet taken over Cop-WatchingEnhancing the Information Experience: The Message at the Light of Speed

The Berkeley Cop Watch and Cop Block websites were created as a central depository of resources for the purpose of educating individuals on their rights and disseminating material (including videos) on the problems of police abuse. These websites are both oriented towards maintaining an open dialogue in achieving changes to police tactics and behavior. One component of this enhancement is the process of connecting viewers to a wider audience through social networking and links to other websites on the topic. For instance, Cop Block makes use of Twitter, Facebook, and a YouTube channel to disseminate videos and other information to maximize the speed and distance in which information travels. The access to a large amount of material within these websites provides the user with information at a heightened pace.

Retrieving the Storyteller

Just as the internet has enhanced many of the democratic potentialities of cop-watching and countersurveillance movements, the internet—in terms of McLuhan’s tetrad—has also retrieved the importance of the storyteller. The internet has opened the boundaries for political participation and discussion through the development and refining of forums for communication like blogs, wikis, and social networks which can add much needed, but sometimes misleading, context and meaning to posted-videos (Whitson 2010). These forums allow any individual with access to the internet to produce their commentary or thoughts on political movements, news stories, or events. Berkeley Cop Watch and Cop Block both advocate for individuals to submit material, opening up the possibility for anyone to contribute videos or essays. Berkeley Cop Watch provides contact information for sending information in while Cop Block has a separate submission section for users.

Obsolete:

As a medium, the internet acts to make previous forms of media obsolete. Such processes are evident in the erosion of print media and declines in traditional audio-video media formats, such as CDs and DVDs. Functions previously served by networked media, such as the delivery of news, television content, and telecommunications, have been subsumed under the internet as a result of its ubiquity, speed, and bandwidth. This causes problems for websites promoting cop-watching because their audience becomes limited as they are not prominently featured in the mainstream media on the internet. For eg : A video posted on police deviance will just as likely reach a person interested in the comedic effects of someone getting beat up, as it will an activist concerned with police power.

Reversing:

In each instance the internet also reverses the influence of the copwatching websites. As the internet enhances the connectivity of cop-watching networks, it also saturates the content through the sheer amount of information. The sheer volume also decreases the influence of the storyteller as an individual’s contribution can fall into the abyss with other information. Additionally, the use of various video comment formats, discussion boards, and social media for online political discussion are poor communicative environments for political discourse. This is seen as the two websites offer little space for commentary by viewers, preferring to allow these spaces on social networking sites. For instance, Cop Block’s Facebook account is littered with videos that viewers respond to in support of or opposition to the actions, often with unabashed opinions on the nature of the video. These commentaries are often a back and forth between opposing viewpoints that quickly move off topic. Furthermore, the permanency of commentary online ensures that a position upheld by an individual is forever maintained online. In these places, everyone is allowed a voice, but political dynamism is often lost under cacophony.

Facebook in EgyptOf 6.22 million Internet users in Egypt in the second quarter of 2010, there were some of 3,581,460 Facebook members (Herrera, 2011). The Facebook in Egypt created what Linda Herrera called “El-Face” community, and developed cultural, political, and moral rules of its own (Herrera, 2011). The call for a protest on the 25th of January was initiated by Facebook members. When the Facebook activists persisted with their struggle toward political and social reforms, announcing additional protest, whose motto was the Friday of Anger, on the 28th of January, most of those activists were detained by the regime of Egypt. Despite the effort of the regime of Egypt to breakdown the Friday event, more than 43,000 people signed up for the event, which was posted on Wednesday, the 26th of January at the Facebook.Later the government of Egypt cut off different means of communication, including access to the Internet and wireless communication. But the Facebook was no longer a medium to communicate through. The echo the Facebook created was beyond the measurements of the regime in Egypt. The message of the Facebook has an off-line resonance that spread into streets of Egypt.Taking on McLuhan’s theories of the electronic age, users of the Facebook in Egypt were translated into the form of the social network, moving toward technological extension of consciousness. According to McLuhan’s laws of Media, the Facebook extended and increased the members’ consciousness of political and social prejudices (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967, p.26). Interestingly, the majority of Facebook members who participated in the protests in Egypt were not members of political organizations or parties.

More importantly, the Facebook seems to challenge the premise of John M Sterck that considers that “Cyberspace does not expand text into experience, it reduces experience to text” (Sterck, 1998: 29). On the contrary, the Facebook expanded the experience of mobilization of people, moving El-Face community from the virtual World to the real one. The Facebook was the online version of El-tahrir square, where Egyptian mobilized, requesting that Hosni Mubarak steps down and leaves presidency. The Facebook seemed to achieve what civil society’s organizations in Egypt failed to accomplish over the last ten years.This paper will question, or rather debate, the premise that Facebook in Egypt is a social construct. The paper will look at the uses of the Facebook by different political parties in Egypt and will compare the evolution of the Facebook with the paradigm shift that occurred in the political sphere in Egypt. The paper will further explain how the Facebook in Egypt is a symbol of McLuhan’s electronic age. The paper will finally look at the Facebook in Egypt through the lens of McLuhan's media laws, speculating what might happen in the political and social arena in Egypt if the Facebook is pushed beyond its limits.

The Right to Privacy, the New Media and Human Development in Nigeria

In the past few decades, there has been an explosion in human knowledge and communication, fulfilling an earlier prediction by media iconoclast and thinker Marshal McLuhan of an imminent “global village”. The explosion seems to have taken place more with the internet which has revolutionized access to knowledge and information. In order to attain a measure of conceptual and operational clarity, such terms as media laws, new media and development have been defined. Also, a theoretical framework, social responsibility theory, has been articulated to explain the idea of balancing freedom to perform certain media roles and societal expectations and values. No doubt, journalism practice in the era of new media has become more sophisticated, requiring a high level of knowledge and technological savvy represented by the new media. The new media in use in Nigeria include but not limited to e-mail, internet, video conferencing, GSM and microcomputers. The need for the guarantee and protection of people’s privacy has also been stressed, as this is in tandem with the provisions of section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (1999) and the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists. 

Despite the acknowledged need to respect the privacy of individuals, there have been cases of abuse or non-challans to people’s right to privacy such as the Sir Rupert Murdoch incident in the United Kingdom, where reporters hacked phone lines and other devices to obtain information illegally; the publication of the nude photographs of a Nigerian actress, Anita Hogan, and the publication on Facebook of the nude photograph of another Nigerian actress Oge Okoye, which has elicited widespread condemnation in Nigeria. The search for the penetration of the new media is vitiated in important ways by such challenges as poor power situation, high cost, lack of knowledge and skill and so on. It is expected that in the years to come Nigeria would be in a better position to address some of the daunting challenges that tend to limit access, penetration and use of the new media. In doing this, however, the right to the privacy of the individual should be recognized and respected as any situation to the contrary would hurt the individual and limit his/her ability to contribute to national development.

What does the medium enhance?

Television enhances people’s knowledge. It gives us the ability to stay informed on everything that is going on around us, such as elections, war, etc. It also gives us the ability to know what is going on all around the world, instead of only what is around us.

What does the medium make obsolete?

Television makes radio and print obsolete. People no longer have to turn to their radio in order to hear music or the news. They can flip on their television and are able to have both. Print is also made obsolete because, with the exception captioning and t.v. ads, we are able to get the information for hearing a person talk rather than reading a paper.

What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?

Television brings back communication through word of mouth.

What does the medium flip into when pushed to extremes?

Television flips into 3-d when pushed to its extreme. Now we have a lot of movies coming out recently that are in 3-d and we have IMAX theatre’s as well.

TELEVISION

Mobile Phones

McLuhan referred to the ‘tetrad of media effects‘ which looks at the effects that a medium has on society, dividing them into four categories: Enhancement (what the medium improves), Retrieval (what the medium recovers which had previously been lost), Obsolescence (or reduction in prominence) and Reversal (what happens ultimately).Rankin applied the media tetrad to Information retrieval using converged mobile media devices (such as iPhones) and showed how context is enhanced; situational meaning may be retrieved; centralisation my be made obsolescent (why have physical classes or libraries if people can learn where they want to be); the reversal is intrusion of technologies into our lives which is beginning to be a problem for some.Applied to communications the tetrad for converged mobile media devices enhances multimodality; retrieves communities; makes uniformity obsolete; with cacophony being the reversal.Applied to mobility the tetrad for converged mobile media devices enhances personalization; retrieves wholeness or synthesis; makes categorization (e.g. folders!) obsolete; with isolation being the reversal.

Rankin’s argument in favour of the use of mobile devices in learning is that they can help:Teaching become relational once again (e.g. blogs, chat, twitter, email and other front and back channel communications.)Teachers can once again serve as mentors, guiding students through their own discovery of information rather than presenting information.Emphasize contextual learning, using knowledge in particular contexts. Whereas classes used to be used to present information but without time to apply it, that information can be given in advance (homework) by podcast, say, and then students can use the class time to apply that knowledge.Allow more challenge-based learning and field exploration of real world contexts.So learning becomes embodied, subjective, dialectic and broadly interconnected – as it was in the middle ages – with new media publishing, personal learning networks and individualised learning, all available from a mobile device. Students can reasonably asked to use their devices to discover content for themselves in class; it becomes their content and so has more meaning and value for them. Getting students to publish their work to the world is a strong motivator for a good job as the prospect of real world exposure raises the standard. This is where the unmaking of 500 years of university tradition has to begin.

How ham radio can be useful during natural disasters 

With sophisticated tablet computers and smartphones and diverse social networking sites floating around the internet, getting in touch with friends and dear ones seems rather simple and convenient. But imagine a day when all terrestrial communications are snapped in the blink of an eye by a powerful earthquake. That is when an amateur, or ham, radio comes in handy. 

What is ham radio? 

Ham radio involves the use of a combined unit of transmitter and receiver -called transceiver -that facilitates a two-way communication between broadcasters across the world. Although the level of awareness about ham radio as a means of communication is still low in India, it has the potential to be an immensely useful disaster management tool, especially in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones and even tsunami. It involves technical creativity and experimentation with the wireless communication network.  Sandeep Baruah, senior scientist at Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology , New Delhi, explains, "When mobile phone networks are overloaded or destroyed during calamities, licensed ham radio operators from affected areas can help one communicate with stranded people." 

The Nepal tragedy 

Currently, Indian hams are working on 14.210 MHz to contact hams in Nepal, where a massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake has claimed the lives of close to 2,000 people. 

Jayant Bhide, national coordinator for disaster communication, Amateur Radio Society of India, who is currently based in Gwalior, says, "We are coordinating with hams in Australia, Europe and Turkey to create a mode of communication and provide help to those stuck in different parts of Nepal, as the country is bereft of electricity and cellular networks following the earthquake." 

Bengaluru connect 

The Bangalore Amateur Radio Club is also doing its bit. "Ham radio enthusiasts and volunteers in the city have been receiving calls from people, seeking information about those stranded in Nepal. They are volunteering as a third-party to provide whatever possible help," says Lion Ajoy, an amateur radio operator and former president of the radio club.Reference: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/How-ham-radio-can-be-useful-during-natural-disasters

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