“The medium is the message.” – Marshall McLuhan
A concept that I’m still trying to understand myself, however I’ll try my best to convey my knowledge on the subject.
Simply put that a message delivered to an audience through one form of medium may have a completely different meaning if the medium through which its delivered is changed.
During my tutorial yesterday, my group and I decided to tweet my tutor directly and ask him for assistance, amusing him and thus making us his top priority. However, if we had simply asked for his assistance by shouting across the room, not only would our demands get lost in a sea of voices that were discussing the topic at hand, our message would be no more or less important than all of the other students asking for his attention through the same medium. We changed the medium, hence the message itself changed; reiterating the fact that the medium is as important, if not more important, than the message itself.
And yes, that actually happened.
In this case the medium is considered to be any extension of yourself, i.e. your computer, your voice, or even the chair you’re sitting on; anything that further enhances our body’s innate abilities. The message is considered to be “the change of scale, pace or pattern of behaviour,” (Marshall McLuhan) as opposed to the actual content and information contained in the message, as the message is dictated by the reception of the audience.
The “message” part of this whole concept is perhaps most confusing. Why is the meaning of message the effect that the communicated message has on its audience, rather than the actual definition of message?
I’ve said message so many times that it doesn’t even sound like a real word anymore.
I’m sure I’ll grow to understand this topic more as the semester goes on (at least I hope so) but for now that is my basic understanding.
MISHA 
Hey Misha!
I just wanted to say that I loved your take on “The Medium is the Message” and loved how you involved twitter, yourself and Ted in the explanation of what this term truly means. Your post provides a satirical take on the whole concept of the medium and the message allowing it to be easily understandable for individuals who may know nothing about this subject. (To some degree, myself included). If I had any criticism it would be to add more examples and possibly a meme or two to add some humour to your post to add a small bit of humour, and or a little bit more about yourself.
Anyways loved your post!
~ krisesandchrosses ~
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Also if you’d like some extra info on the Medium is the Message for some collaborative learning (yay!) check this out 🙂 http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm
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Hi Misha,
I was actually wondering what the story was behind that tweet!
Anyway, I really engaged with your more humorous take on this weeks topic. I was still confused about the whole medium is the message concept too and your blog post really helped me to understand the basics of it.
On my blog post this week, I talked about how the effects of ‘the message’ have impacted the media industry which I think might be something good for you to investigate since you were still a bit perplexed.
My only criticism of this post would be the lack of links to other articles or an embedded meme or video. I think that would’ve made it a bit more interesting and enticing for your readers.
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Not being biased because I was a part of this group, but I loved the take on this post. It was a really simple way to explain the absolutely confusing phrase “the medium is the message” and actually get a pretty good understanding of what it actually means. My only criticism as such, would be to maybe add another example, but that’s about it, because I thought it was really well done!
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Hi Misha,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post and the picture of your tweet to Ted is absolute gold (even though as one of your group members I’m a little biased)! I think you’ve written and set out this post very well, as it could easily be understood by someone not studying bcm112 aswell. The only suggestion I can make for future posts would be to add a few hyperlinks or another example, simply to extend on your understanding of the topic. Overall, I think it was a great first post and I look forward to reading your opinions in the future 😉
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After three weeks, I’m still struggling when it comes to deciphering the meaning of ‘the medium is the message’, although your post explains it well! You were clear and straight to the point, making it easier to wrap around my head. I also had a bit of a laugh when I saw that Tweet…
A humorous and informative blog, well done! I look forward to reading more.
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Hey Misha,
Your analysis on ‘the medium is the message’ was very amusing, I liked how you added your own person experience in the transferring of messages and how the communication can be lost or confused. Your post explains this very well and I think you did a great job!!
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Really liked the blog post Misha, using a relatable experience to explain an example of how the medium is the message worked a lot better, it even helped me get my head around it. Fantastic Job!
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