The World Wide Web, popularly known as the Internet, would probably be one of the world’s greatest technological advancements of the 20th century. Due to the existence of such a powerful resource, the world has shrunk by allowing communication with others and the access of information to be a less difficult activity. With the emergence of the internet, new cultures and communities are also developing and evolving.
The term media ecology is derived from two words; 'media' and 'ecology'. Now lets define both terms. From my research, the term media simply means the various ways or means of communicating information or things [1]. The term ecology means relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. Putting those two words together with the understanding of what both terms mean, media ecology is simply the role communication and information plays in human affairs or the study of media environments. Neil Postman defines the term as "how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value, and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival"[2].
Whenever there is a shift in medium there is a corresponding shift in culture. As a cultural impact, people believe that the Internet is killing our culture as humans and our traditional ways of doing things (i.e. sending letters, using the libraries for research, writing on the chalkboard). They believe that realistically we have become lazier because we have become accustom to the advancement of technology. I believe the Internet is an enhancing tool and it is making us much more informed and knowledgeable of broad and narrow contents. Also, it makes the process of accessing things much simpler, considering space and time is no longer a factor. One thing I’ve come to realize is that we do not understand this medium as much as we think we do. We do not care how it works or operates or where it originated. The things that most of us are primarily concerned with are if we are connected to the Internet and able to access this World Wide Web of information. Although this technology exists in reality, we do not realize it exists because it is a part of us like most cultures are. The Internet or the World Wide Web is just an extension of our minds. Like one of my fellow classmates stated on our class wiki, "Google is the extension of our memory". It is clear that I am not the only one who believes strongly for such an argument. As McLuhan said, “Fish don't know water exists till beached"[3].
The World Wide Web has dramatically changed humankind and the processes and methods we use to communicate with one another. For example, eighteen years ago the email address Sexi_girl101@hotmail.com did not exist nor did the term 'email'. Eighteen years ago "Sexi_girl101@hotmail.com's real name was Annie Francesco. In order for Annie to communicate with someone who is a long distance away, she would have more than likely sent them a letter by mail. If she was aware that almost two decades later she will have the option of sending a letter through a new technological society called the World Wide Web, do you think she would embrace that technology? Even though she has knowledge that in the future it would be the most popular and fastest means of communicating and obtaining information? This scenario is somewhat similar to the one Klosterman brought up: "It becomes very clear that- you have become obsessed with Canadian football. And this future is static and absolute; no matter what you do, this future will happen...come across a pre-season CFL game between the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Knowing your inevitable future, do you watch it?" (Klosterman, 132). [4]
Marshal McLuhan states, "The medium is the message"[5]. Since the Internet would be considered the medium in this scenario, what is the message?
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Work Cited
[1] "Ecology." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 06 Oct. 2009.
[4] Klosterman, Chuck. "Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs" New York, NY: Scribner, 2003.
[2] Postman, Neil. "What is Media Ecology?". 7 October 2009. http://www.media-ecology.org/publications/MEA_proceedings/v1/humanism_of_media_ecology.html
[5] “The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan.” Playboy Magazine (March 1969). 7 Oct. 2009. http://folk.uio.no/gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html
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