In previous blog entries, I have written about the way different communication channels influence the message received. We have known for a long time that the medium is the message. (See also Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium Is the Massage). One of the principal concepts behind the message inherent in the titles of books (including McLuhan’s) is that communication channels are themselves “messages.” The original discussion about this concept focused on the differences being communicated by print media and television. the movie, Medium Cool, was based on McLuhan’s concept that video was a “cool” medium, one that forced viewers to think . . . → Read More: Video or Text-Based Web Pages?
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 Comments are closed  Blog  audio, Charles Dickens, communication channels, communication device, cool, dictation, email, film, Fireside Chats, Franklin Roosevelt, French revolution, Internet, live stream, Marshall McLuhan, Media Star, medium, message, movies, news, news pages, news weeklies, newspapers, Nineteenth century, paper-based mail, post literacy, postliteracy, postliterate, preliteracy, preliterate, reading, Tale of Two Cities, text, text-based communication, TV channels, video, watching, websites Will Rogers famously said, “I’m not a member of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” The sense that Republicans are “lock-step” in pursuit of their objectives, while Democrats are no better organized than a herd of cats, has been around since the days of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the frantic search for Communists thought to have infiltrated the US government. Republicans learned how to stick together during the “Cold War,” and it was not long until they had developed what came to be known as the Southern Strategy, which was essentially race-based politics, designed to take advantage of White . . . → Read More: Politics as Usual? Comments are closed Blog and brotherhood, Bernie Madoff, Blacks, communication, communication media, Communists, Democrats, dot com, economic security, education, FDR, Fireside Chats, fossil fuels, Internet, Joseph McCarthy, lock-step, love, Mid-East, Middle East, Newsweek, newsweeklies, peace, Persian, political parties, political power, political process, politics, pundit, race-based, radio, Republicans, science and faith, Southern Strategy, television, the big picture, the future, this too shall pass, time, time management, TV, vested interests, vision, Will Rogers A long time ago (1985) a New York University professor, Neil Postman, published Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. One of the principal ideas is that television is “entertainment,” even when the subject is serious. The “news” becomes just another “show.” From time to time I have wondered what Professor Postman would have thought about social media. His principal complaint about television was that it turns “news” into “entertainment.” Rational discourse was replaced by video and sound “bites,” with the focus of attention increasingly fleeting and fragmented. I remember the history of television . . . → Read More: Social Media and Our Collective Well-being Comments are closed Blog A.M., ABC, actors, addiction, addictive behavior, Amusing Ourselves to Death, ARPANET, BITNET, broadcast media, Cable, CBS, Civil Rights, college, consumers, contacts, Dancing with the Stars, DWTS, entertainment, F.M., Facebook, generations, go outside and play, Google+, gossip, high school, history, horse, horseback, information, Internet, Istagram, letters to the editor, LinkedIn, NBC, Neil Postman, New York University, news, newspapers, newsweeklies, online gaming, PinIt, play, publications, radio, reading, riding horses, Selfies, Snapchat, social media, soldiers, sound bites, texting, texting while driving, TV, Twitter, Vietnam, Vietnam War, voting by text message, walking, war, Web sites, World Wide Web, www Some of you have noticed that it has been a long time since my last post. It isn’t so much that I had nothing to say as it is that I was overwhelmed by how much needed saying. A lot has been going on, and even areas where not much has been happening (the U.S. Congress), the inaction is fraught with meaning. Where a lot has been going on—forest fires in the U.S., flooding in the U.S., wars and rumors of wars in the Middle East, and changes related to global climate change—it is hard for me to know . . . → Read More: Sticking to Our Guns Comments are closed Blog big game, big-bore, bolt action, congress, Disney, flooding, forest fires, global climate change, gun deaths, guns, hunting, innocent bystanders, Internet, Mickey Mouse, Middle East, Mideast, New York, news, North Carolina, pistols, police, police shootings, power, rifles, rumors of wars, self-defense, shooting, shotguns, side arms, single-shot, Sorcerer's Apprentice, TV news, urban warfare, wars, weapons, weapons training An alternate title for this blog entry might be “Adjusting to Social Media.” Many of us who are older “dogs” at this point haven’t really caught up with the changes in forms of communication that have occurred in recent years. Some of us are making the effort. Others aren’t. If you’re a student of communication, you’re probably familiar with Morris Massey, who has used the lens of generational differences to help individuals understand the communication process. Where we were when, especially in pre- and early adolescence, influences the principal frames through which we view the external environment. When I was . . . → Read More: Old Dogs and New Tricks Comments are closed Blog bookstores, Borders, computer, copyright, education, email, Encyclopedia Britannica, envelope, Facebook, frames, Google+, graduate student, Internet, lawmen, learning, Lewis and Clark, LinkedIn, mail, Morris Massey, Native Americans, newspapers, newsweeklies, old dogs, outlaws, phone calls, radio, range wars, sexting, social media, territory, texting, tubes, TV, Twitter, typewriter, What You Are Is Where You Were When, Wild West With apologies to the Beatles and “A Day in the Life”: One of my daily habits is reading through the major online news sources to get a sense of what is happening here in the U.S. and in the world. I often find it fascinating to see what subjects are drawing the most media attention—and the kind of attention they are attracting. Here’s a brief round-up of recent “stuff”: Placebos are in the news (again): One of the things I find most interesting about placebos is that articles about them written by medical doctors studiously avoid the word . . . → Read More: I Read the News Today (Oh, Boy) Comments are closed Blog A Day in the Life, advertising, Beatles, belief, Chicago, corrupts, debt, deficit, Detroit, economy, evidence, experience, fiscal, history, hotel maid, hypnosis, IMF, Internet, John Edwards, Korzybski, lamestream, leaders, Lord Acton, map, media, men, metamodel, news, NLP, placebos, platitudes, political, politicians, politics, power, primaries, pundits, question, reality, Republican, Sarah Palin, scandal, Schwartzeneger, talking points, tax rates, taxation, taxes, territory, TV, Twitter, U.S., unemployment, Weiner As I am starting to write this electronic blog, one of the headlines for the day is that one of the principal bookstores in the U.S., Borders, is filing for bankruptcy. Electronic readers—e-readers—are gaining market share. In related stories, Amazon recently announced that Kindle e-book sales have surpassed sales of both hardcover and paperback books. For those of us who have spent a lifetime reading books, the move to “electronic literature” is a bit unsettling. I still have books on my shelves that I read as a college undergraduate. They have moved with me at least eight times and kept . . . → Read More: “What’s a Book, Daddy?” Comments are closed Blog Amazon, amplifiers, Boarders, books, bookstores, CDs, change, children, City Lights, computer-based, distance learning, e-readers, Egypt, grandchildren, illuminated manuscripts, Internet, iTunes, Kindle, learning curve, Middle East, Milton, monks, Nook, Paradise Lost, pioneers, records, San Francisco, Satan, smart phone, technology, tubes, turntable |
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