ANY medium through which we communicate a message to other people is a channel between the sender and the receiver of that particular message. A single channel — such as the newspaper, radio or telephone — is generally known as a ‘medium’. But can the medium be a message in itself?
Marshall McLuhan, one of the most important communication theorists of the 20th century argues that radio, movies and television affect a society just as the print medium.
McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message,” which became popular in the ‘60s. He made a case that in each cultural era the medium in which information is recorded and transmitted becomes decisive in determining the character of that culture, and that medium shapes and controls the extent and form of human association and action.
In any culture, communication heavily depends on technology. Technology gradually creates a totally new environment. When this environment starts taking root it evolves into an organism itself. These environments are not “passive wrappings but active processes”. Most individuals are unaware of the way technology influences the environment and the content of the media.
The content or material of the media is diverse. The content of any medium, driven by technology, blinds us to the character of the medium. Reason being, the content of any medium is always another medium. Like the content of writing is speech (content of speech is thought process) or the content of television, radio or movie may be a novel, play or opera. Similarly, the content of the Internet is video images, sounds, graphics, animations and text. But the impact of radio, television, movie or the Internet is not related to their programme contents. A reader, listener, viewer or user of a medium is almost unaware of print, speech or picture image, due to the fact that the medium masks the message by putting on a new face of its own.
Early societies had different systems or media for sending messages or signals that could be seen or heard from a short distance, such as drumbeat, fire and smoke signals, or lantern beacons.
As society advanced, communication was bolstered by technology. The Egyptians used papyrus, a primary writing material. And in the era when Plato lived, written word had created a new environment; the message of the medium was not just the word “written”, but the de-tribalization of the individual through self-identification.
The medium was improved, and in 1450 a German printer Johannes Gutenberg perfected the system of typesetting, a key invention in the development of printing. As more books became available, more people started to read. With literacy came the exposure to new ideas. The print medium gave a great message: the right to think independently. Another message of the print medium was ‘widespread knowledge’.
The first truly electronic medium was telegraph, which sent and received electrical signals over long-distance wires. S. F. B. Morse demonstrated the first telegraph system in New York in 1837. It made it possible for many companies to conduct their business globally for the first time. Simply because price changes could be communicated almost instantly. The message of telegraph, apart from its content, was urgency and time-sensitiveness. Another message will be to unite the world economy (globalization) in the next decade or so.
Later on, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell got the patent to produce a telephone. A device that would transmit human voice over wires instead of electrical clicks or other signals, just as telegraph would work. Telephone stood for quality of life and work. So, telephone service meant an end to isolation and loneliness. Apart from that, the telephone network also provided the electronic network for a new computer-based system, the Internet. The relationship between computers and the telephone system is now inseparable.
Radio was first an air-borne medium. In 1864 G.M. Marconi invented the first wireless radio. Later on, the invention of frequency modulation (FM) radio provided much more sensitive and clear radio transmission and reception. Radio programming began to fill the airwaves. The message of the medium was domination of air after exploring terrestrial and marine options.
After succeeding in transmitting sound by using electromagnetic waves, inventors toiled to develop similar methods for transmitting pictures. While radio provided pictures of words to be re-drawn in each listener’s imagination indirectly and subjectively, television went a step ahead, allowing the viewers to experience distant events and places directly. Television also helped to bridge the emotional gap in modern life.
Not so long ago, in 1975, the first microcomputer was introduced, which contained the power of many machines, fitted into a desktop. Since the ‘70s, personal computers have transformed business, education, and entertainment.
Then came the concept of “virtual reality”; offering more ways of escaping from the fetters of life. The message of this medium, the Internet, seemed to be making all human beings conveniently familiar with each other — not to mention the right to get worldwide access and choose complimentary information at will. Every medium enriches human experience. Any kind of technology does nothing, but adds to what we already are or what we already know. And surprisingly, any new technology does destroy the already functioning media, but makes them more useful. For example, despite the fact that these days the world of computer encompasses almost all the technologies and the Internet contains most forms of communications, the older media are still there and their usefulness has not died out.
