 Hi everyone, welcome to this video discussing ecological analysis as part of our larger study of critical media studies Really excited about this when I love ecological analysis. That's one of my favorite theories in the whole realm of communication studies So I'm really excited to talk about this now Ecological analysis may bring to mind thoughts of you know the environment Are we gonna be looking at things from environmental impact and not exactly that's not really what we're talking about not global warming and that kind of thing So well, but we are gonna be talking about an ecology in an interesting way Let's jump in here and see what we find out first of all ecological analysis examines the role of media ecology in the perception understanding feeling and value of an artifact So the key there is really media ecology and what do we mean by media ecology? We're gonna get into that but really we're talking about the entire environment surrounding The the channel and that the technologies and Around through which that communication takes place and how does that impact us as individuals and us as a society Our interaction with one another how does that impact our as it says perception or understanding our feeling in our value the value that we have of An artifact so all the things surrounding that but really coming back down to one thing in them Really so the major premises here that we're gonna be focusing on a media ecology is what's called medium theory It's grounded and what's called medium theory now as you may recall the medium is really just another word for channel So the channel is how that's being communicated So medium theory has to do with the technology how the technology or the or the individual medium of communication and that is that Indicates that the that the technology or the individual medium of communication is equally important to or even more important than the content of The media to understanding our social environment So the impact that the again that these that the choice of channel and that the method of Delivery of this media has and how that can be just as important if not more important than Then then the content of that media in the way that it affects our social environment and our Interpersonal communication the way that we relate to one another and the way that we communicate with one another So anyway, that's really what medium theory is getting at is that it surrounds the technology and the individual medium of that communication There are a couple different avenues. We're gonna explore here starting with there A couple different kind of phases of medium theory We're gonna start by talking about what's called technological determinism and then we will get into the more recent kind of definition of that area which is media ecology So before we do that though, let's just break down medium theory real quick again I just a little more direct way first of all when we think about medium theory There are really three principles involved here The first is that each medium medium theory says that each medium has a relatively unique and fixed set of characteristics So there are particular things that are true about a medium so if we're using the medium of You know just say social media in general. That's different than the medium of a post-it note Which is different than the medium of a phone call Which is different than the medium of smoke signals, right? Each of these has some unique characteristics and some fixed Characteristics that are there about them some things that are true about them some things that relate to them that are different from other forms And you can even you know if you want to get even more specific and dive into this they're different for example they're different characteristics and For the different types of social media if we got into the social media There's you know, we there's things that are different about Facebook than about Instagram and then about Twitter than about You know tiktok and so forth right all of these have different characteristics And that are that are unique about them and that are also fixed about them So every medium has a relatively unique and fixed set of characteristics. That's the first point of medium theory the second Is that those characteristics then produce a particular communication environment? So the way that we communicate using those things is affected and this is determined really by Those characteristics. Okay, so that those characteristics produce that particular communication environment They are influenced that by that and those characteristics and create a really unique and specific environment And then finally the communication environment that is created then has consequences for human consciousness and social organization So it's kind of a flow here a process and then all that comes back to effect is we're gonna see it's almost turns into a Circular thing here, but so each medium is unique and has different characteristics those characteristics Then create a specific communication environment and that environment then impacts how we relate to ourselves How we relate to one another and it creates that communication environment through which we communicate with one another Okay, so that's the the three principles the three points of medium theory in general So, let's take a look then at the one specific kind of Foundational area of medium theory and that's the work of a gentleman named Marshall McLuhan Who worked in what's called technological determinism when he called technological determinism? McLuhan was a psychologist really but but focused on communication theory and Interaction and the way that technology impacted that he said that his belief was that a Society's technology Determines its cultural values its social structures and eventually in overall its history Right that the technology that's used during that time them that dominates that time has such a tremendous impact on those areas that it really ends up affecting every aspect of human interaction and of human development and so he said that That's us that the society's dominant technology really determines all of those things hence the technological Determinism the name in the in the theory there He also stipulated that or postulated that social progress is driven by technological innovation that our society and our society's progress is really a Tied to or specifically connected to technological innovation and that's really not difficult to see in our modern times is it with the Rapid progression of technology and the way that that is impacted the way that we interact with one another and our society in general you think about I mean just our own personal use of social media and things like that how different it is from even just 20 years ago And how that's impacted our society But then you thought if you want to put it in a more specific context Recently we've seen the impact that those types of technologies are having on things like White supremacist groups. They are much more able to organize and to To coordinate from a distance even without really having to gather until they want to so I mean There's all kinds of advantages that that that social media and the internet in general have offered two groups like that so that really impacted social progress in a variety different ways some good some bad but So social progress has driven them by that technological innovation and then finally that the technological determinism this Exams the effect of technology on the nature of human relationships. Okay, so McLuhan said that the that human kind has gone through these different Phases of media history and the dominant technology at that time has really impacted the nature of human relationship So for example, if we just look at these individually these different aspects of media the periods of eras of media history First you have what McLuhan called the tribal age back before really predating even the written word where where History and everything was connected to to the orality of communication. Everything was was through spoken word So you really had this not only So you had not not only share a language, but you had to be in a geographic area that allowed you to To hear that language and communicate that line. So everything was really tied together In a sense not only did they live close together? You could go 10 miles and they'd speak a different language and you might not have any idea What somebody was saying so that would be very different. There's also the sense of connection in terms of Collectivism, you know people are living in close quarters and you really depended on that group for survival So really going out on your own was not an option as much So so you really were really connected and not only within this tribal group at home But then within the different groups within that tribal group. So really had this strong connections and we're very much Dependent and codependent on one another in the tribal age Then you have the literacy age where some people could start to read now We have the written word that would be the first innovation technological innovation that McLuhan sites is the development of the written word And so that then some people became literate and that allowed them to kind of move away from the group a little bit Could because you could still be a part of that group you could still communicate You could still gather the history and things and not have to be right in the same village necessarily It also allowed people that to communicate over greater Expanses of geography right you didn't have to be in the same area you could write things down and send it and have an accurate Communication and have you know the ways to communicate with people outside of just the spoken word So you have the literacy agent people see that people start spreading out a little bit there There's still a little largely a part of the tribe, but but some spreading out there Then you have the print age with the that was ushered in by again technology Assuring in a change a massive change in society that technology then being the printing press So then not only do you have some people who are literate but more and more people are becoming literate and can move away from the tribe Right and don't have to be centrally located necessarily they can move away a little bit and and still have that information Still have that connection still be able to communicate across large Stretches of geography and you start to see this in in for example in the in Western in our Western We call Western civilization here in the United States the westward expansion You could be out on the frontier, but still Have a book still be connected still get newspapers and magazines and still keep up on what was happening in the outside world without having to be right in the center of town and So so you know just even thinking about the print age in that sense Then you have more people who are literate and and literacy continues to grow and grow and grow more people had access to those materials And we're able to kind of decentralize again move away from the tribe a little bit Next you have the electronic age, which you know, I may have started with the telegram But really radio television those types of things You have the electronic age and and then you see people that are connected But now the communication really is spread out. We're able to really isolate We don't have to be around the other people to be connected to them right in a sense We can still get the news we can still get the same entertainment and not ever really have to be around people We you start to see this kind of isolation Obviously it has an impact on the way that humans interact and and that's really what McLuhan's getting at these these The technology determines kind of how we're engaging with one another how we're interacting with one another It's really was his major point in all of this and the different types of media He caused us to think differently cause our processes of thought to change and the way that we process information and gather information all of this changes So the electronic age you have, you know, that the tribe is shrinking and the necessity for that You know the dependency on that tribe is shrinking a little bit We have that kind of outward communication going but but we can see we're much more isolated We're much more independent Then we have what's been tentatively there's a lot of names for this this last one here. There's the third age There's there's all kinds of stuff, but we're just gonna call it a new media age Things like the internet basically with the advent of the internet It's what we're talking about and really ushered in a different style of communication again When we think about you know the fact that we can bounce all over here You know no longer is it just coming from this one central location now? We are creators now. We are communicating with one another directly now and it's created what's called this What some people are calling the global village Right of you know this connection with people all around the world the world is shrinking in that regard No, that does not mean we know people better that we're communicating any better It just means that we are able to connect a little more to people outside of you know that that isolation a little bit so Not everybody's communicating with everybody obviously, but but we have different Path pathways of communication that are happening in the new media age and we'll talk more about that here in a few minutes but One of the just quick item from for McLuhan one of the famous things he said is the medium is the message and It's part of this quote the medium is the message This is the passage from one of his books the medium is the message This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium That is of any extension of ourselves which in his mind the medium Media our extensions really of ourselves as humans Result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by extension by each extension of ourselves or by any New technology, but what he's saying here's the medium is the message that the you know The way we choose to communicate that message says a lot about what we feel about that message says sometimes more than the content of that message itself When you choose to break up with somebody you're in a relationship you choose to break up with them face to face That's very different sends a different message than breaking up with them via text or via a post-it note or whatever right so There's the mediums there communicate very different Messages about how you feel about that person how you feel about that relationship How you feel about the content that you're communicating so in That's where McLuhan is coming in saying the medium is the message in many ways the medium Communicates something more than the content of that message So that's technological determinism then we then we you know continue to evolve continue to expand on this You have a gentleman named Neil postman right Neil postman comes up with this idea He expands upon McLuhan's theory and says okay beyond technological determinism. They have what we call media ecology Okay, so now we're starting to get in a more contemporary sincere media ecology and what what postman said about this is that media ecology really describes a holistic systems-based examination of The symbiotic relationship between humans technology and the environment The environment here being the context is what he's really getting at the context the environment the situation in which that communication takes place So it's what he called a symbiotic relationship. It's not a One that one exclusively drives the other but it's one where these three things work in conjunction in their evolution Right, so he also said then that the aim of media ecology is to increase awareness of the mutual effects That was his purpose in defining mutual media ecology Was to increase the awareness that people have of these mutual effects and that the the impact they each have on each other And finally you talked about how this is a dynamic process Rather than just technology as a singular driving force. So McLuhan's technological technological determinism said that technology Drives this and society then follows and that's it right. It's the technology that drives this but postman says no It's the it's really a symbiotic relationship, but so it's dynamic. It's constantly changing. It's not just a singular driving force There's multiple causality going in here We can we kind of compare this and you know the reason the word ecology comes into this is because we're thinking about the same Type of ecological system that you see for example in the Sahara. You have different animals that are all Doing their thing and not necessarily working together, but each of them impacts This environment right when you lose a piece of that ecology, whether that's you know an animal goes into extinction or becomes rare or You know one of the resources The water becomes very rare and you change the ecology of that situation. It changes that entire system, right? Everything is impacted and everything is connected. Everything is symbiotic so Postman was saying that's exactly what's happening with Media ecology with our relationship with this technology in the media as well so So where again? McLuhan in technological determinism said that technology evolves and then humans adapt and then technology evolves again And then humans adapt, but it's really technology Driving that whole process Polisman said that the media ecology cycle is a little different. He said first of all we have this mediated communication So mediated communication just being any communication that uses Technology right so we have this mediated communication whatever it is Whatever is presently in use as that mediated communication the dominant mediated communication is what there is Then you see though that new tools are developed So we have what's existing in that mediated communication, but then new tools are developed And then you have maybe the adoption of this new technology and not all of it's adopted But but much of the time it is you know So you see these tools that are that are adopted So who knew that Facebook was going to be become what it is right who knew that tech talk would ever be popular So we have the you know the adoption and then we have other you know types of social media and different types of technologies That are not adopted or that that are adopted and then go away You know my space is an example if you can recall my space, right? So some of us remember my space kind of a precursor to Facebook It was very popular for a short time and then it went away. It was supplanted by Facebook. It's nowhere to be seen now Right, so you see maybe the adoption of this new technology and when it is adopted though Then it becomes kind of normalization. I mean I'm old enough to remember when Facebook was new You know relatively new I'm able to remember when you had to have a college email account or a dot edu email account In order to sign up for Facebook. It was exclusively for college students Then it became something more than that and and then it became the normalization I can also recall when my mother joined Facebook, right? And as the time was in her 70s, right? And then I thought okay. Well, this is obviously becoming a Normalized technology. It's not something that's unique anymore for for young people when you got all people of all ages doing it It's become the norm now and it's become kind of the standard, you know, it's no longer that cutting-edge Technology that's that's sort of new right? It's no longer in erotic analysis. What we would call transgressive. It is now Just that the norm it's become the norm and then that becomes then the mediated communication Becomes the new norm right that becomes our mediated communication. Well, eventually new tools are developed Facebook was there and then Twitter came and then Instagram came and then tiktok came and so these things continue to develop these You know and it continues this cycle, but there's a symbiotic relationship people have a place In that cycle whether or not we adopt it whether or not we normalize it You know whether or not we use it and somebody's got to develop these tools right technology just doesn't develop itself So somebody's got to develop these tools. So we have the symbiotic relationship this you know kind of companionship relationship with these things so in in creating these so This is what we mean by media ecology then the symbiotic relationship between these different technologies and humans and our environment in which we We communicate the situation the context in which we communicate so Presently as I mentioned before we are in what's called the new media era and there are different names for but that's that's a very common Was the new media era to one take just a second and talk about what we mean by that So to define new media we just need to understand that new media means any media that uses computing technology to create store and distribute data So really anything with a microprocessor would be considered new media now That really kind of confuses and can get you know muddy because you know we talk about television as part of the electronic area Right well, but a lot of television is now run through microprocessors, right? The television itself as well as the streaming services that you might use to watch this So is it electronic age or is it new media? You know, it's really just kind of an evolving thing But generally speaking if it uses a microprocessor, we're gonna call it new media if it uses computing technology To distribute and create and store that that data then we're gonna call it new media And that's what we mean by a new media now There are a few characteristics of new media that we need to be familiar with The first is that it's digital we just talked about it uses computer technology computing technology to to do all those things so it is digital it's it's it's It's it's shared and it's it's created and it's stored in bits and bytes and and it is digital new media is Digital and takes advantage of those digital technologies then It's also variable. It's variable both in the sense that Of how we can create these things and the function of those things and the way we use this Technology and the way we use the information we get from this technology But also in the way that we can access this technology lots of times digital new media will have Multiple entry points for example, you don't always have to check Facebook from your phone You can check it from your computer. You can check it from a lot of these different things You can check it from your watch maybe now you can do you know all these different things so it's variable both in the way that we use and Function with that information and also how we then access it and things like that along those lines It's also interactive New media is interactive meaning. It's it's not just one way radio and television those are things that And that and that time you didn't really see a lot of Independent, you know creation of radio and and television programs and things like that It was all run through the system basically you were running through that that media Industry that the traditional media industry, but gosh, how many of you are youtubers now? Whether you I mean how many of you created anything and put it on YouTube or Filmed anything and put it on YouTube or written a blog or contributed in some way or interacted Have you responded or commented to one of your favorite stories or to a community or message board or things like that? New media is interactive. It is a two-way street. It allows us to be both Consumers of the media, but also producers and creators of media and engage in that aspect of it It is connective it does connect us now again that does not mean that we are That we have you know enhanced our relationships necessarily, but it does mean we are more connected how many I was joked I'm a Full disclosure. I'm not on Facebook anymore really so I don't do a lot of social media So um, but when I was I used to I used to look at my Facebook page sometimes and think How many friends do I have? How do I have this many friends on Facebook? I don't have This many friends. I don't you know people and I would call friends I know a lot of people and that that's really what this is that I these are people I know, but they're not my Friends necessarily, but I'm connected to these people. So I'm finding out what they're having for dinner What their kids were on the first day of school and so forth and and and it was fine. It was nice But doesn't help me necessarily know them any better or really, you know establish a connection But it is connective it does connect us to people all over the world People that we know people that we don't know and it does help us be more connected Again, whether or not that's a good thing or not May depend on the day, but we are more connected for sure It's also virtual even when you're talking to somebody, you know On the phone live face. I'm in person in person in real time in real life You're talking to somebody on the phone Even if you're FaceTiming them it's still on the other end of some technology They're being that you know their information their image is being sent through the ether Right through these bits and bytes that we talked about because it's all digital Which makes everything virtual has advantages and disadvantages to that so but we need to understand that New media is virtual every aspect of it really is virtual There are also a couple of key impacts of new media that we need to consider some things that That we need to bear in mind waste that is this has changed the way that we I couldn't as McLuhan said the way that we interact the way that we engage the way that we think It has impacted all these things even if it's if it's not just the technology developing as he would have indicated But more like postman said it's a symbiotic relationship But that doesn't change the fact that it has An impact on the way that we communicate and the way that we interact the way that we relate to one another and the way that Our society functions really so um first of all New media is what we call associational. It's associational We think back in time, you know when I when I was growing up you when you read books You you listen to concepts you do whatever it's very linear everything is very linear, right? You move from a to b to c you read a book from a You know from page one to page two to page three all the way through right now when I was a kid I love choose your own venture books and have you hop around a little bit, but for the most part Our learning was linear We listened to albums and cassette tapes in a linear way because that's what we had available We listened that you started the beginning you go through to the end Everything was very linear and that's how our mind worked then right in a very linear Fashioned okay, what what do I need to get from a to b to c and so forth? But with the development and one of the impacts of new media is that it's very associational Which really implies that we're very non-linear Right as you can see here. It's no longer a to b to c now It's a to wherever you want to go think about the difference between reading a book And and and getting on the web right like I said when I read a book when I was when I was you know Or even today when you read a book you start a page one you go through all those different pages Right you move through this page. It's a very linear process And so our our mind works that way our mind is is is fashion in that linear way And I mentioned when I was growing up and I listened to cassette tapes I wore out my copy of Metallica's injustice for all and and all their other Stuff, but I loved injustice for all and I listened to it all the time But I listened to it From start to finish and jump around first of all because it was a pain to do so in a cassette You would add a fast forward and you could never really exactly get to the right spots He was fast forward and then rewind and get to the beginning of a song or whatever But um, so you just listen from beginning to end and bands knew that a lot of times They made an album with that in mind right that you were going to listen to it from beginning to end So there had to be a flow sometimes there was a story to it But I listened to that I'm from beginning to end I didn't jump around Or anything like that and now even I have a cd I have the cd that I listened to quite a bit still when I'm working or doing whatever I still listen to it from beginning to end because my mind is very Linear in nature because that's what I grew up with that a to b to c But compare that linear nature with surfing the web You know how many times have you gotten down the rabbit trail right or gotten pulled down, you know like Like alice in wonderland right get pulled down that whole of you get on to do one thing on the internet And all of a sudden you're clicking and you read a paragraph and then you find another like oh Let me click on this and I'll go over here and I'll go over there. It's not linear You don't start on page one of the internet and go through to the end Right you you start where you're starting and then maybe you get to the end of that and go to something else But maybe you just skip around You know I have this issue in youtube all the time when I'm going there for something specific I'll go there looking for some information on something or how to video on how to do something and then All of a sudden I'm watching videos of soldiers coming home from you know and surprising their family Or I'm watching you know cute pet tricks or I'm doing you know things like that I just get pulled in all these different directions. It's it's associational We have the same thing when I get when I was growing up when we watch tv You waited until the next program came on right you didn't have the opportunity to jump around now We can watch what we want when we want and in fact we get pretty frustrated I know I do even though I didn't grow up with I get pretty frustrated when I have to wait What do you mean? There's only one episode out a week What is wrong with you people just put them all out at once and let me watch them when I want And how I want and so forth right if I want to watch it on my tv or on my phone or if I want to switch Halfway through and you know I'm tired of watching it on my phone. So I'm gonna go watch it. I want to be able to do what I want That's what we mean by jumping around here Like there's no linear process anymore to all this stuff with new media We can jump we can go wherever we want and you may get from a all the way to to g Without ever going through b and c you may not have any connection to b and c at that point You may not have to so there's all kinds of things that we do differently and our mind works differently now in that regard Our mind works differently And and people who've grown up with this have grown up with this associational kind of impact And so we need to keep that in mind That's one way that new media has impacted us is that it's very associational It's it's much less linear than traditional medias It's also contingent right everything is contingent now Again when when I was growing up you basically had books and and magazines and things But if it was printed in a book It was it was pretty solid. I mean that was pretty much it that was considered sort of the gospel Right's considered sort of the end all be all right, but now Anybody can print anything right not just in book form but on the internet and you can find information now like you couldn't before I can't imagine how we ever Got along without being able to just pull something up on google immediately and have an answer to something my friends He's just and I used to argue about stuff Constantly who's the lead singer of this band or whatever and we We just have to wait till somebody got the cassette tape and we can look in the liner notes, right? We didn't have the instant impact, but so now everything is contingent Right everything is is you know, it's maybe maybe true. Maybe not true Maybe true for now. Maybe true for you But then I'll go out and find this other information, right or at the very least I'll go out and hit hit refresh And have some new information to share with you based on what I found on the internet So everything is contingent now. They're very it's very hard to find an absolute truth In a in essence, right? It's very hard to find an absolute truth in the age of new media because somebody I'll just come and Make a statement about something different or put something else out So it's very different to find an absolute truth in the age of new media New media is also what we call prosumptive Prosumptive, right, which is a combination Of two different ideas, right the idea that that that media is consumptive We consume media. We are consumers of media, but we are also as we mentioned We are also producers and creators of this media. So producers and consumption Consumptive prosumptive new media is prosumptive It is both something that we consume and that we produce We're very much producers of new media Just this video, for example, is a production of new media that I never would have imagined 10 15 20 years ago really wouldn't have imagined that I would be doing something like this that people might view it At some point that that never would have occurred to me. That's not something that I Would have been able to do I didn't have the facilities to do that. I could there's no way I could just do it sitting in my home right here I have all the technology that I need To be a creator now But and and everybody does really at this point, right? If you've got a smartphone, which it's pretty much everybody, right? You can be a creator. You can be a producer of new media Everybody virtually has that opportunity In in this society in which we live here in the United States virtually everyone has the opportunity To be both a producer and a consumer. So new media is then prosumptive And finally it's effective Affective not effective, but affect effective Meaning that it has an impact on a really on our body on our physiologically. It impacts us in a way, right? It's much more Intimate new media is much more intimate and personal than old media would have been so When I was in college, for example, if I wanted to listen to music And I had roommates all through college But I had to consider those roommates, right? I had to consider that, you know I mean, I had headphones that I could use and things that you know big over-the-ear type things But who does that and I was limited in range and things so you never do that So instead you just pick music that you know your roommates are going to like Fortunately, I like a wide variety of music. So that wasn't as much of an issue for me But I always had to be mindful of, you know, well, I can't really listen to my Hardcore metal if my roommate's here and doesn't like that kind of music So it's it's less personal in some ways. It's less Intimate because it's more of a shared experience and more of a generic experience in that regard But new media is very intimate very personal. We put in our headphones We put in our Earbuds and we and we have our phones out and we're consumed by this, right? But it becomes much more personal it becomes much more Intimate in that regard we can be in our own little world And and it does affect us physically not only in terms of what we're hearing and what we're listening to And what we're seeing but the fact that it does kind of Close us off how many times you run into something or tripped over something because you've been On your on your phone or listening to something and not paying full attention to what you're doing It it is affective. It affects us in a very physical Very real way then my new media does much more so and it's really become more about Not just what we think but what we feel about something how we feel about something has become much more important Than than what we might think about it. We go with our gut a lot more on these types of things It's really just thinking again about the ecology the environment that this new media Has created and continues to create the different medias that we have and how this changes The way that we connect with one another the way that we relate to one another the way that we communicate to one another The way that we see ourselves and communicate with ourselves All of these things the way that this impacts our society and in big ways and in small ways Media ecology is Everywhere and so it's something that we need to to keep in mind and consider as we as we really focus on That critical aspect of media studies I hope this has been interesting to you. I hope you've Understood now ecological analysis a little bit better that it's not really just about the environment At least not you know again a sense of global warming and recycling and things But but more about the environment in which we live in the environment That's created by the media and and then establishes our society and really influences our Society and has an impact in that regard If you have questions about this or about ecological analysis or about any other aspect of critical media studies Please feel free to email me. I'd love to chat with you about this via email and answer any questions that you might have In the meantime, I hope you'll get out there and really have a renewed understanding Of the impact that the different medias have in the way that we can communicate with one another relate to one another engage with one another and and and again positive and Potentially negative ways all the way around and and just the impact that the media has on us Has in ecologic in an ecological sense