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13 Things 2008
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
"Whereas the spectator of a picture magazine is passive, the reader of a news magazine becomes much more involved in the making of meanings in the corporate image. Thus the TV habit of involvement in the mosaic image has greatly strengthened the appeal of these news magazines...." - McLuhan 276
In Understanding Media McLuhan argues that media do not only transmit information, but also prompt a specific response from our physical senses. He defines a high definition medium as one which provides a lot of information and therefore requires little of the consumer. A low definition medium on the other hand provides little information and requires the consumer to fill in the missing pieces. High definition media is hot, while low definition media is cool.
Here are a few of McLuhan's examples:
Cool-----Hot
telephone-----radio
news magazine-----text book
cartoons-----photographs
T.V.-----movies
seminar-----lecture
Back to From the morning commute to the midnight study break: How and where does one absorb the Phoenix?