Reading #2: Digital McLuhan

Questions for the article “Digital McLuhan”

 1. What are the differences between the pre-literate acoustic world and the alphabetical visual world? How does the media of television become a part of the acoustic world?

In the pre-literate acoustic world, gaining information depends mainly on the sense of hearing. With hearing, there’s less risk to be fooled than the risk of being fooled by the eyes. Also, you have to normally be in contact with something to smell, touch, or taste it, and these four other senses can be turned off. Hearing, meanwhile, you can’t really turn off because there are sounds practically everywhere in the world. With the alphabetical visual world, more copies of a single source can be made available, however, the article states it’s not as easy for the message to be spread as a voice to ears. Television becomes a part of the acoustic world as it uses both the senses of seeing and hearing by combining audio and visual graphics, and it can spread a message even more quickly to people all over the world.

 2. Why does the alphabet have the segregating tendencies? How exactly does the printing press reverse the segregating tendencies?

The alphabet has segregating tendencies because at one time it was a medium with limitations. Very few people could read a specific alphabetic printing at a time. This, however, is expected because a new technology has setbacks and benefits, rather than 100 percent benefits. The printing press reversed these because it made publications available to more people at one time and in a faster manner.

 3. How does the alphabetic communication in online communication make cyberspace acoustic? How is the online acoustic world different from the television, radio, or print acoustic world?

Alphabetic communication in online communication makes cyberspace acoustic because of interactivity with things such as live chats, social media, and the like. Any person can put something online and it can be viewed by anyone. It’s different from television, radio, and print because the author has to create and publish the media on the web, and a person must be an active participant and view the media. Radio can be listened to in many of situations. With television, you may have to keep your eyes open for the visuals, but there’s still the audio portion that you can take in with eyes closed. Finally, with print media, there is no interaction. It’s the person reads and takes in information.

 4. Not only do we invent media and media technologies but also we select their uses in different contexts. What are the two selection criteria? According to the selection criteria, please discuss what will happen to our online communication in

20 years.

The two selection criteria are that we want our media to extend beyond seeing and hearing, and we want media to get back past communication elements we’ve lost.

In 20 years, we will have media that is more interactive than ever before. With other forms of media (print, television, etc.) trying to implement interactivity and get with the times where social media is the big thing, there will be much more communication between those in the media and the consumers — and the older forms of media that do adapt like so are more likely to survive or continue to thrive.