{"id":1374,"date":"2009-06-25T03:21:07","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T08:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/?p=1374"},"modified":"2009-06-26T05:45:42","modified_gmt":"2009-06-26T10:45:42","slug":"the-mcluhan-conic-understanding-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/06\/25\/the-mcluhan-conic-understanding-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The McLuhan Conic:: Understanding Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1377\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1377\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/2214745739_7de89c7ef4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1377\" title=\"2214745739_7de89c7ef4\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/2214745739_7de89c7ef4-400x239.jpg\" alt=\"2214745739_7de89c7ef4\" width=\"400\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/2214745739_7de89c7ef4-400x239.jpg 400w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/2214745739_7de89c7ef4-100x59.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/2214745739_7de89c7ef4.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1377\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marshall McLuhan Way, Downtown Toronto, ON, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Crossposed on <a href=\"http:\/\/rhizomicomm.blogspot.com\/\">Rhizomicomm<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>McLuhan Way is just down the street from me, so perhaps it&#8217;s my inspiration. \u00a0I remember reading <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marshall_McLuhan\">Marshall McLuhan<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s <em><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=R2bqSaC5TlkC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=understanding+media&amp;ei=VQtDSoKlBp-8zATq_aFn&amp;client=safari\">Understanding Media<\/a><\/strong><\/em> over 14 years ago in a seminar on the Internet. \u00a0The hot\/cool media continuum perplexed many of us and some say technology has rendered the concept obsolete. \u00a0In terms of hot\/cool, where does the Internet stand?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hot media are high-definition. \u00a0Media that fully-engages one sense of the audience member:: print {visual}, radio {sound}, film {visual}, &amp; the photograph {visual}.<\/li>\n<li>Cool media are low-definition. \u00a0Media that require more active participation from the audience member to interpret:: \u00a0Television {visual with limitations in the 1960s}, \u00a0telephone {sound of a relatively poor quality in the 1960s}, and comic strips {cheaply reproduced mass-entertainment}. \u00a0The video game as a hyperreal construct, where the audience\/player must fill in gaps of this representation of the real.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reading is engaging in hot media and is a solitary experience. \u00a0Reading, contrasted with speech, forces an isolating consciousness, perhaps one overly-immersed in the individual.<\/p>\n<p>How does Web 2.0 fit into all of this? \u00a0Well, new technologies trend towards the hot. \u00a0The iPod engages us, bathes us in a bubble of sound of our choosing. \u00a0What about this paradox? \u00a0New technologies are higher-definition, engaging us more and more, but also allowing us to be interactive with others {social media}. \u00a0Moreover, there is convergence of the technologies. \u00a0The smartphone {MP3 player, telephony, Internet web surfing} is a stunning example of multisensory engagement that also allows us to communicate and share with others.<\/p>\n<p>What happened? \u00a0Is the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/2009\/03\/28\/web-print-the-singularity-of-media\/\">singularity of media<\/a>, <\/strong>where all media is converging,<strong> <\/strong>making it all lukewarm? \u00a0The continuum is shrinking to a singular point, as in the multimedia experiences of the smartphone. \u00a0Has technology sped up our communications, so that there is the appearance that time has folded upon itself. \u00a0We read text or see a video and now we can immediately respond to others. \u00a0We read a tweet from Twitter and immediately respond to it.<\/p>\n<p>So, bear with me as I think out loud here. \u00a0Let&#8217;s assume that media are approaching singularity. \u00a0As you go up the cone, technologies converge and the user is collapsing hot\/cold, engaging both simultaneously.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1380\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1380\" style=\"width: 291px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/conic11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1380\" title=\"conic11\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/conic11-291x400.jpg\" alt=\"conic11\" width=\"291\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/conic11-291x400.jpg 291w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/conic11-72x100.jpg 72w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/files\/2009\/06\/conic11.jpg 324w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 291px) 100vw, 291px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1380\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">McLuhan Conic:: Rough ideas for understanding trajectories for social media.  ~Kambara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Let&#8217;s assume that at the circular base of the cone, along the diameter is the continuum from hot to cold. \u00a0Perpendicular to that diameter is another continuum, the institutional semistructures, rigid {controlling} versus chaotic {open}. \u00a0The base would have 4 quadrants, each with prototypical examples::<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Hot &amp; Rigid- Old &#8220;big media&#8221; {print, radio, film, <em>etc.<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Hot &amp; Chaotic- Engaging content in unstructured\/uncontrolled \u00a0databases<\/li>\n<li>Cool &amp; Rigid- Newsgroups<\/li>\n<li>Cool &amp; Chaotic- Synchronous unmoderated chat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The origin will be &#8220;lukewarm&#8221; and semi-structured. \u00a0The origin is somewhat of a normative assumption. \u00a0Individual user experiences may vary and may not even be contiguous. \u00a0I know I need to refine these ideas and construct a better diagram. \u00a0Nevertheless, I think this concept might be valuable in thinking about how people&#8217;s use of technologies is likely to evolve. \u00a0Where would you put the following::<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Facebook {social networking site}<\/li>\n<li>Twitter {microblogging}<\/li>\n<li>YouTube {video filesharing}<\/li>\n<li>Hulu {long-form professional videos}<\/li>\n<li>Google {all things data}<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Where are they moving towards -or- how could they better provide value? \u00a0Of course, despite <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/97\/11\/02\/home\/mcluhan-obit.html\">McLuhan<\/a><\/strong> being gone for quite a while, I half-expect this to happen to me::<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"370\" height=\"224\" data=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9wWUc8BZgWE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/9wWUc8BZgWE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n<p><strong>Twitterversion::<\/strong> Can #MarshallMcLuhan &#8216;s hot\/cold continuum inform #socialmedia? #sociology #web2.0 http:\/\/url.ie\/1wys\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/Prof_K\">@Prof_K<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Song:: <\/strong>&#8220;Suspect Device&#8221; Ted Leo &amp; the Pharmacists-<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lyricstime.com\/ted-leo-and-the-pharmacists-suspect-device-lyrics.html\">lyrics<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" data=\"http:\/\/blip.fm\/_\/swf\/BlipEmbedPlayer.swf\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\"><param name=\"id\" value=\"BlipEmbedPlayer\" \/><param name=\"quality\" value=\"high\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" \/><param name=\"FlashVars\" value=\"blipId=14679419\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/blip.fm\/_\/swf\/BlipEmbedPlayer.swf\" \/><param name=\"name\" value=\"BlipEmbedPlayer\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crossposed on Rhizomicomm McLuhan Way is just down the street from me, so perhaps it&#8217;s my inspiration. \u00a0I remember reading Marshall McLuhan&#8216;s Understanding Media over 14 years ago in a seminar on the Internet. \u00a0The hot\/cool media continuum perplexed many of us and some say technology has rendered the concept obsolete. \u00a0In terms of hot\/cool, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[942,775,1554,1557,732,1553,1552,1259,184,1555,763],"class_list":["post-1374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-facebook","tag-google","tag-marshall-mcluhan","tag-mcluhan-conic","tag-social-media","tag-suspect-device","tag-ted-leo","tag-there-is-one-medium","tag-twitter","tag-understanding-media","tag-web-20"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1374"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1374\/revisions\/1385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/thickculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}