Herbert Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan was born on July 21, 1911 in Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada. He was a Canadian communications theorist, educator and a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the keystones of the study of media theory.

~Education
Marshall attended his school Kelvin Technical School in 1915 before enrolling in the University of Manitoba. He pursued his BA and MA in 1932 and 1934 respectively from University of Manitoba and he won the University Gold Medal in Arts and Science in 1933.

~Marshall McLuhan Quotes
Automobiles:- The car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban men.
Communication:- The medium is the message.
Names:- The name of a man is a numbing blow from which we never recover.
Television and Radio:- Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America, not on the battlefields of Vietnam.

~Important Books or works

McLuhan’s first book, “The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man” in 1951, after this, “The Gutenberg Galaxy: The making of Typographic Man” in 1962,

“Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” in 1964,

“The Medium is the Message: An Inventory of Effect” in 1967, “War and Peace in the Global Village” in 1968, “From Cliché to Archetype” in 1970.

~Key Ideas of McLuhan

McLuhan was also a Technological determinist, the meaning of technological determinism is, the idea is that all social, economic, political and cultural change is naturally based on the development and diffusion of technology. It was bought in the media by McLuhan but, this term was first coined by Thorsten Veblen.
In terms of Technological Determinism Media Theory, McLuhan quoted, “All media, from the phonetic alphabet to the computer, are extensions of man, that cause deep and lasting changes in him and transforms his environment. There are various forms of media technologies exerting a significant influence on how individuals think, perceive and interact the world.

The quote “The medium is the message”, was first used in 1967 in McLuhan’s book understanding media. McLuhan proposed that the medium itself not the content it carries should be in the focus of study.
Ex.- Radio, Television, Newspaper
According to McLuhan defines the participation or engagement and the clarity or information of the medium is “Hot media and Cold Media”.
Hot Media:-

Hot media provides a high level of sensory information and detail. They demand a relatively low level of active participation from the audience because they provide sufficient information and leave little room for interpretation. The audience becomes passive.
Ex.- Printed Text, Photograph,

Radio

, High-definition TV etc.

Cold Media- Cold Media has a lower level of sensory information and detail. It is considered low definition. They require a higher degree of active participation from the audience to comprehend and interpret content. Cold media are less immersive and encourage the audience to fill the gaps.
Ex.- Abstract Art

Cartoon

Low-definition TV etc.

Global Village:- This term was also coined by McLuhan in the books, “The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man” in 1962. It indicates the daily production and consumption of images, media and content by global audiences. It refers to the idea that modern communication technologies, particularly electronic media, have transformed the world into a closely interconnected and interdependent community.

McLuhan believed that these technologies, such as television and the internet would effectively “shrink” the world by enabling instant and widespread communication, surpassing geographical and cultural barriers.

Tetrad of Media Effects: – Where McLuhan developed a framework to Analyse any medium’s impact, considering four dimensions: – (1) what the media enhances, (2) what it retrieves from the past, (3) what it obsolesces, and (4) and what it reverses when pushed to its limits.

In September 1979, McLuhan suffered a stroke which affected his ability to speak, and he never fully recovered and died in his sleep on December 31, 1980. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada.

Source:- Google. all pic credit AI

Written by Rajat Ranjan