This Week's Readings

This week's readings were so similar, that by the time I was done with them it was really hard for me to remember who said what. Many of the authors looked at new media as just an extension of old media. An "upgrade" you could say. They also discuss how these extensions impact a persons life and the culture of a community. Bush uses the statement "inventions have extended man's physical powers rather than the powers of his mind." With this remark, Bush is saying that new inventions are changing man's culture, the way we think, the things we do and how we do them. To the same degree Engelbart states ""means" can include many things -- all of which appear to be but extensions of means developed and used in the past to help man."

All the authors also talk about media in a more complex manor than usually thought of. They look at the medium in pieces and look at every piece that makes up that medium as just as important if not more important than the medium itself. Engelbart talks about the architect and the architects finished work. But instead of just looking at the picture as a whole, he outlines every single small detail that went into the final drawing. Something most of us would overlook. McLuhan uses the light bulb as his example. Many of the things we take for granted - like a lighted sign - would not be possible without every single light bulb. He looks at the light bulb as being the message. He sees both the light bulb and the sign as a medium. Not as the light bulb being just a part of the message. It is as important as the sign in his analogy. Williams also talks about the media in this way. He talks about the concept of "flow" and says that the components put together are more important than the end result. This compares to the light bulb analogy showing that every light is just as important if not more so than the board itself.