Medium Evolution:Medium Evolution: The Laws of Media on the InternetThe Laws of Media on the Internet

By Jeanna ArroyoBy Jeanna Arroyo

Class: MMC 2265Class: MMC 2265

Teacher: Gary RitzenthalerTeacher: Gary Ritzenthaler

The Couple

How did this happen and why?

The Beginning

MAN

Or rather….

Extensions of Man

• Fist to Weapon

• Homeostasis to Clothes

• Labor to Money

• Voice to Radio

• Body to Internet

Radio

Radio

Extended man across space

Mcluhan’s Laws Of Media

The Basics

The Tetrad

• What aspect of life or society does the medium enhance?

The Tetrad

• What aspect or previous medium does it eclipse or replace?

The Tetrad

• What does the medium retrieve?

The Tetrad

• What does the medium reverse or evolve into when it has been fully extended or developed?

The Tetrad

Radio

Enhances: the voice and the ear.

Radio

“On the air you’re everywhere.”

-Marshall Mcluhan,

Laws of Media

Radio

“In these media, the sender is sent and is instantaneously present everywhere.”-

Marshall Mcluhan, “Last Look”

Radio

Eclipses:The newspaper and

print.

Radio

Retrieves:The town crier and

orality.

Digital Mcluhan

Paul Levinson

Radio

“the old and obliterated and the trite, the current, and the new and surprising,

the most ancient and the most civilized mentality.”

-TS ELIOT, Laws of Media

Radio

Reversal: Television

Internet

Screen of computer continued from TV screen.

Internet

What aspect or previous medium does it eclipse or replace?

Replaces:

• Television• Radio• Print• Movies• Cable• Phones• Libraries• Schools

What aspect of life or society does the medium enhance?

Enhances speed information is

sent and received.

Communication

Increases our choices and need for personal selection.

We choose what to share, who to friend, and who we are.

Enhances design, according to Nalini P.

Kotamraju’s “Art Versus Code”.

Enhances retrieval of information and

knowledge.

-Pierre Levy, Cyberculture

What does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced?

Permanence,according to Paul Levinson.

What does the medium reverse into or evolve into once it has been fully extended or developed?

“Fish don’t know water exists till beached.”

–Mcluhan, Culture is Our Business

The interface with which we access it is also being extended.

Example: Apple’s Ipad

The ease and speed that is possible with digital media brings us levels of choice

and the power to stop reversal we deem unfit.

– Paul Levinson

Future

Presentation and Audio By: Jeanna ArroyoPresentation and Audio By: Jeanna Arroyo

Works Referenced:Works Referenced:Marshall Mcluhan, Marshall Mcluhan, Culture is Our BusinessCulture is Our Business

Marshall Mcluhan, Marshall Mcluhan, Laws of MediaLaws of Media

Nalini P Kotamraju “Art Versus Code: The Gendered Evolution of Web Nalini P Kotamraju “Art Versus Code: The Gendered Evolution of Web Design Skills” from Design Skills” from Society Online: Internet in ContextSociety Online: Internet in Context

Pierre Levy, Pierre Levy, CybercultureCyberculture

Paul Levinson, Paul Levinson, Digital McluhanDigital Mcluhan