Lecture 4 Flashcards
What is McLuhan’s famous phrase regarding media?
“The medium is the message.”
How does McLuhan define media?
Media are extensions of human senses, shaping and controlling the scale and form of human association and action.
What does McLuhan mean by “the content of any medium is another medium”?
Media are intertwined, with one medium’s content being delivered through another (e.g., movies through television).
What is Friedrich Kittler’s view on the relationship between technology and society?
Kittler sees technology as a political force that determines society and media as shaping human reality.
According to Kittler, what is the historical significance of media?
Media evolution reflects the decoupling of communication from information and interaction.
How does Kittler differentiate between communication and information systems?
Communication systems involve human interaction (messages, persons, goods), while information systems focus on data storage, processing, and transmission.
How does Kittler view the impact of digital technology?
Digital technology decouples information from continuous functions, turning it into discrete data, processed at high speeds.
According to Kittler, what is the problem with information theory in understanding communication history?
Information theory focuses on signal transfer but cannot account for the cultural processes of communication.
How does Kittler define the evolution from writing to technical media?
Writing couples storage and transmission, while technical media further decouple communication from interaction and information.
