The Critical Contextual Studies Media Essay

The Critical Contextual Studies Media Essay Marshall McLuhan wrote of existing in the age of re-tribalised man and residing in the global village. Throughout my research I will examine these concepts in relation to the effects of modern media, especially television and the internet, and how it has changed the way we communicate with others around the world. Canadian born theorist Marashall McLuhan (1911-1980) was an English graduate turned media analisist. His first Popular book the mechanical bride looked at advertising and it was a ground breaking piece of writing as it was the first time that anyone had ever studied advertisments as a form of communication, from then McLuhan had the concept that the content of the media was irrelevant, but the form of which the media took was the importance the medium is the message. The telephone for example as a medium has significant impact on our enviroment and the way we live and communicate however the conversation we have on the telephone affects very few people just as what we print is nothing to the effect of the idea of the printed word. This can be better explained in another quote from McLuhan: the content of a medium is like a juicey piece of meat by the burgular to distract the watchdog of the mindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without rissistance he recoginised and understood the power of media and argued how it plays an important part in shaping and structuring human culture in terms of the way we communicate and the way we experience the world. we shape our tools and then our tools shape us McLuhan also saw the importance of new media technologies as new media brings new forms of communication. Mcluhan formed the concept of hot media and cool media: In this theory McLuhan gave the lable of hot media to forms of media that stimulate only one of the human senses whilst interacting with it, for example he suggests listeing to the radio or reading a book, watching a film, Viewing a photograph or sitting in a lecture require one sense. However cool media requires more active partisipation this form of media can be Conversation, television, telephone, comics, the seminar. he belives the electonic age offers a more diverse multi sensory environment, he claims we use more of our senses with multimedia rather than singlular media and this makes us more true to our natural state. In this theory Mcluhan looks simplistically to the physical interaction in terms of senses and doesnt acknowledge the engagment the singular media has to our imagination or to our sentiment. Although McLuhan is incredibley insightful he does get critised for not leaving room for evaluation, he looks generally and broadly not looking at individuality or things suc h as values; as indicated in a dibate with Norman Mailer 1968. Re-tribalised Man McLuhan had another theory were he defined three ages of man, separated according to the means of the form of communication (media) used and which of our senses is involed. In this theory McLuhan identifies the first age was the preliterate or tribal era Where the spoken word was the main way to communicate and our hearing was our most important sense, He also identified the second age is the gutenberg Age where the main media was the written word (print) and our sight became more important than our hearing. McLuhan then goes on to suggest the third age is the electronic age of the re-tribalized Man where all our senses are involved in the interaction to the form of media. Mcluhan doesnt suggest the book or the print is not still important, there is just a shift in the nature of the book; by this he means there is change with how we interact with books and how much we depend on it. As the book before digital media was the sourse of all our information about the world and each other. before the book we relied on verbal communication to exchange information to and from each other, it was a communal interactive experience where as the book is a very private experience and he sees we are shifting back to a more social interactive way of sharing information. Mcluhan compares the writen word to an assembley line where words like parts are moving in one diraction and assembled one part at a time and he speaks of how at the time the assembley line has changed where its no longer one component at a time its now as many parts delivered mechanically all at once where ever possible. he says you relise its no longer a line but an open field , He also talkes of the tribal man in this quote The world is like a continually sounding tribal drum constantly bangingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the princess gets married in London bang bang bang we hear about ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Global Village McLuhan saw technology as having become an extension of our senses. McLuhan saw the Radio or Telephone as an extension of the ear and Television and Computer as being the extension of our eyes. These technologies allowed us to project our senses beyond our limited physical range. He saw the pace of which we can communicate through electronic media is parallel to the speed of our senses. Through technology such as the telephone, television, computer systems and the Internet, we are able to Interact with people across the world as quickly as it would take us to contact and converse with the people who inhabit the same physical space as us (i.e the people that live in the same village). To understand what McLuhan means with the term global village we need to identify what he meant by village in this metaphor. In a sense the village represents a small environment in which people can easily communicate and interact quickly and know of all the events that takes place. As McLuhan writes: Time has ceased, space has vanished. We now live in a global village a simultaneous happening McLuhan is communicating the idea that through our extended senses we can now share and experience things on a global scale, we can share things with people on the other side of the world, as if we were with people in the same physical space. McLuhan also saw the global village as a potentially invasive community in an interview McLuhan says: the global village isnt a place where you have harmony. It has extreme concern in everyone elses business and much involvement in everyone elses life. it means huge involvement in everyones affairsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The global village is as big as a planet and as small as a village post office. In many senses I think McLuhan was very insightful when talking about the global village to the shift into the digital age of which we live today, particularly when analyzing the quote above and applying it to social media such as Facebook . On sites like Facebook there is constant dramas and bickering whether this is caused by over sharing some information or people digging into someone elses information, so we can see validation in McLuhans quote. However there are many good qualities to social media too such as being instantly connected to friends and family across the world. I can also see that McLuhan also had something in his idea about certain medias being an extension of our physical selves, although he did not mean it literally one can see that todays generation are constantly attached to their mobile phones, although its not actually physically part of us we are rarely without it as if it were a detachable appendage. The device is kept at hand like a pair of glasses. I think McLuhan is not only correct when talking about the computer or telephone but also television, I think it can allow us to experience the world and some situations as close as we can without physically being there, like living life looking through a window we get to see what world wide tragedies are being broadcast in the news as if we were there viewing it for ourselves. With television we can get to experience a reality from a distance.

To Build or Not to Build

In the summer of 2005, Hurricane Katrina unleashed what resulted in a widespread devastation wreaked on the city of New Orleans. New Orleans—the colorful, zealous Mississippi Delta city, home to world-renowned restaurants, jazz and blues’ clubs, and universities, saw many of its neighborhoods flooded, even washed away by Katrina’s strong waters that breached the barrier of its levees. The extent of this catastrophe has triggered fierce debate over how the city should be rebuilt; taking into consideration the city’s population shift, economic emergency, and continued below sea-level vulnerability. Actually, there are some who think that the potential for a similar disaster in the future begs the question whether the city should be rebuilt at all. I personally believe that New Orleans deserves to be rebuilt. As stated before, the continued below sea-level vulnerability is one of the major issues taken into consideration when debating whether or not to rebuild the city. Some may argue that the river that flooded New Orleans is a savage, untamable beast; aloof and unappeasable, with no heart except for its own task (Document A). However, the city has fought its mighty river for generations. The river is simply part of the New Orleans heritage, and is simply nothing new to its residents. This river is the same river that helped impregnate and vitalize the soil of early settlers. The austere beauty of the river itself is in fact too grand to be forgotten; and too awe striking to be completely omitted from New Orleans’ history and then categorized into a monster whose damage is underserving of man’s repair. Normally when tourists or first-time residents come to New Orleans, they have a difficult time understanding the city. Even a prolonged stay brings no easy recognition or familiarity. New Orleans history of different cultures, ethnicities and traditions that can help explain the city's atmosphere. You can say that diversity is birthed out of this bustling city’s loins. From jazz to rock and roll, Creole cooking, Mardi Gras, or the architecture of the French Quarter, all play as elements of New Orleans (Document B). All of these elements possess an astounding liveliness that has spoken to people around the world and shaped much of the best of what we think of still as American culture. Though many may argue that it is nearly impossible to recreate traditions that have been deracinated by the unfortunate inevitable, it is safe to say that it is not the St. Louis Cathedral, nor Jackson Square, nor King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band that makes the city the landmark that it is. It is the spirit of vigor and robustness that lies in the city streets that drives the indescribable, potent energy its visitors and residents feel daily. The same spirit that the people had was present as they confronted Katrina. Peering into the eye of the storm, this spirit faced the storm unafraid; knowing the storm would potentially consume their past and future, New Orleans’ present spirit is stronger than the storm (Document D). To the people who possess this type of spirit, having faith is an understatement. New Orleans should be rebuilt because its culture is more than just for the â€Å"tourists’ eye†. The city represents antiquity. It represents some sort of security. It represents home. Not only does the city represent home for many, it also has a present national commercial value. Its ports are continuously a pulse-point for commerce in Iowa and the rest of the country. Many argue that the levee system is ineffective, and will not be intact for possibly another twenty years or so. Therefore, why rebuild a city when there is a chance that another disaster will strike again, and there is nothing in the government’s economic interest to help prevent future predicaments? Document C) Yes—the opposing side holds a nearly infallible argument. However, one must consider the billions of dollars’ worth of work put into these ports. Yes, economically New Orleans is suffering. But the future of the nation’s economy as a whole can be in grave jeopardy if commerce is discontinued. New Orleans must be rebuilt. Shortage of ideas on how to rebuild the city is no issue; but rather the dedication to get it done. In closing, urban recove ry is more than just putting bricks and cement together, mortar and asphalt, or bytes and electricity. It is about reconstructing the innumerable social relations entrenched in schools, workplaces, childcare, arrangements, shops, places of worship, and places of play and recreation. It is not about restoring New Orleans’ authenticity. It is about preparing an atmosphere that is welcoming and accommodated enthusiastically to former residents (Document E). New Orleans may never look exactly the same ever again. But its people deserve to feel the way they first felt about the city when they first encountered it; and how can you place a price upon falling in love?

Bullying: Self-esteem and God Essay

Bullying is a continuous cycle that starts when someone is so insecure that they feel the need to hurt someone. Often, the person who was bullied is left with low self esteem and he feels the need to put others down to make himself look better. People bully other people because they think that if they turn the attention to someone else, people won’t hurt or talk about them. They think that it will make them be more popular, but actually it just ruins their reputation. God talks about bullying in Luke 6:29 â€Å"If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.† God never says to get even with them, call them a bad name, or hold a grudge. Jesus was constantly bullied. He was spit on, ridiculed, mocked, and whipped. He was even crucified, but still He never was mean to them. While He was on the cross, He said â€Å"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.† Even while His enemies were treating him horribly, all Jesus could think of is that He wanted to see them in heaven. Our goal also is that we want to see all people in heaven. Our life is not to focus on trying to be the most popular person. Our purpose here on earth is to tell others of our Savior so that they too will be in heaven. We are reminded of this in Matthew 28: 19 â€Å"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.† Our relationship to others should always be one of love so we don’t put obstacles in the way of witnessing and spreading His Word. When we see someone else being hurt with words or actions, it is our job to stick up for them. If we don’t defend them, we commit the sin of omission, and we are as guilty as the bully. We need to speak well of each other, showing love and kindness to all people including the bully to help lead him to repentance. When we feel the urge to hurt someone with our words or actions, we should remember God’s command to love one another. We need to follow God’s command in Matthew 7:12 â€Å"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.† God has given us the perfect example of love by sending His Son to die for our sins. We need to show that same love to others through our words and actions. We need to think, if Jesus was in my exact position, what would He do? Obviously Jesus wouldn’t do anything that would hurt someone, but He’d always show love, compassion, and forgiveness. God made each of us special. Why then would we want to make fun of the way God made someone else? Our lives should always reflect Christ’s love for us. 1Peter 3:8 -10 â€Å"Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, ‘ Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.’†

Micron - Definition and Examples

Micron Definition: A micron is a unit of length equivalent to a millionth of a meter. 1 micron 1 ÃŽ ¼m 10-6 m Also Known As: micrometer, micrometre, ÃŽ ¼m Examples: Red blood cells are approximately 10 microns in diameter. Human hair is between 10 and 100 microns in diameter.