The Medium Is The Message: What It Means For Us Today

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Any medium is merely an extension of our central nervous system.

It gives us great pleasure to have you join me for this issue, as we explore the fascinating and always relevant subject of "The Medium is the Message." Marshall McLuhan first used this word in 1964, and I would say it still helps to define and perhaps refine our knowledge of visual culture, media, and communication. This edition will investigate the ramifications of his idea using examples from diverse fields of visual culture and the eminent people that have added to the discourse around the subject.

A Historical Perspective

The view of communication was transformed by Marshall McLuhan's argument that "the medium is the message". His theory proposed that, as much as the content itself, the media used to transmit knowledge affects how the message is perceived and even what the message is. As McLuhan personally said, "Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication."

I always was struck by the idea that all media is purely an extension of the human central nervous system. A medium isn't purely confined to obvious communication methods like radio or television. It also can be applied to systems like roads, enabling communication and transportation, linking locations, people, and civilisations, hence forming our social and physical environments. It was this concept that helped me view media and mediums with fresh perspectives and therefore, changing how I made and interacted with them.

The idea that media can be wide-ranging and sometimes abstract, falling into many different spheres and disciplines is quite liberating. For example, media scholar and philosopher Friedrich Kittler said, "Media determine our situation."

This sentiment stresses how unquestionably media shapes our view and reality. Analogous to this, futurist and writer Alvin Toffler underlined the transforming ability of media in influencing society development and advised that "new media create new societies." As new advances in technologies push our central nervous systems further outwards and at an ever-increasing pace, this statement is ever apparent. The exponential pace at which our society is changing is breathtaking.

From this vantage point, visual thinking and creativity gain great advantage. Knowing that the media shapes our message helps us to use several visual techniques to express more profound meanings and connections. This approach is most effectively demonstrated by our work with whiteboard animation and multi-modal techniques. Rich, immersive experiences combining visual, aural, and kinaesthetic components improve knowledge and memory.

Visual Culture: The Media

Let's take two separate instances to show the value of media in visual culture: augmented reality art and street art.

Street Art

With its vivid murals and graffiti, street art turns public areas into challenge and inspiration canvas. Using the urban surroundings as their medium, artists immerse their messages in sites with background and complexity. The media itself, the street, becomes a crucial part of the message since it immediately involves a varied audience in their daily environment. Subject to weather and erasure, the fleeting character of street art likewise remarks on the fleeting character of modern life and ideas.

Augmented Reality

Conversely, augmented reality (AR) art uses technology to overlay digital information onto the physical world. Artists such as Keiichi Matsuda investigate how augmented reality might create immersive settings that blur boundaries between digital constructions and reality. In Matsuda's works, the media of AR not only communicates the message but also changes our relationship with space and information, therefore providing a futuristic prism through which to see the world.

Watch Matsuda's 360-degree film here.

Both instances show how the media modifies the message in different original ways. The immediacy and accessibility of street art against AR's futuristic and immersive elements shows how different mediums could present different interpretations and experiences.

Problem Solving Mediums

Understanding the link between medium and message has practical applications in problem solving. For example, in educational, using a variety of media, such as traditional textbooks and interactive digital platforms, help us adapt to different learning styles while also improving engagement and comprehension. The more learning styles we can use, the more types of learner we can accommodate. In the work we make our Whiteboard Animations employ a range of techniques that cater for different centres of intelligence, including visual, aural, and kinaesthetic.

According to a research conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, incorporating multimedia into teaching can enhance student retention by up to 30%.

Multi-Media

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found that using multimedia in the classroom can boost retention rates by as much as 30%.

Visual thinking techniques, such as infographics and data visualisation, can help businesses simplify difficult information, making it more accessible and actionable. Companies that employ data visualisation tools are 28% more likely to locate relevant information than those that only use traditional approaches (IDC, 2021).

Visual Data

Companies that make use of data visualisation tools have a 28% better chance of discovering up-to-date information
(IDC, 2021).

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