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Lecture II

Lecture II. Understanding Media, Culture and Technology Part 1: Harold Innis. Johan Lindell, Ph. D Student Johan.lindell@kau.se Media and Communication Studies Karlstad University. Q&A. Lecture Outline. Lecture 1, the main points Harold Innis: Biography and main line of thoughts

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Lecture II

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  1. Lecture II Understanding Media, Culture and Technology Part 1: Harold Innis Johan Lindell, Ph. D Student Johan.lindell@kau.se Media and Communication Studies Karlstad University

  2. Q&A

  3. Lecture Outline • Lecture 1, the main points • Harold Innis: Biography and main line of thoughts • How is Innis relevant today?

  4. Lecture 1: Main points • Communication as ”A social exchange of meaning whose outcome is the measure or mark of a social relationship” (Mosco, 2009) • Therefor important to study how communication ”works” and how communicaiton might change society • In media studies, one prominent way to do so is from the ’medium theory’ perspective

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  6. Harold Innis (1894 -1952) • Canadian Professor of Political Economy, University of Toronto • 1913. Starts undergraduate studies at McMaster University • 1917. Christian and democratic duty to help in the First world war. Artillery man. Physical and psychological damages. • War influenced Innis: the dangers of technology, Canadian nationalism

  7. Harold Innis biography cont. • 1920. Post-graduate studies. Awarded Ph.D at University of Chicago • Influenced by Chicago communication scholars George Herbert Mead and Robert E Park. Communication is more than sending a message. (see also Fiske, 1990; Mosco, 2009 • Dies in 1952. Not yet fully acknowledged scholar.

  8. Harold Innis and his influence on Communication studies • The Fur Trade in Canada (1930) and the beginning of ’media imperialism’ paradigm • Empire and Communications (1950) and The Bias of Communication (1951)

  9. Innis suggested that: “We may perhaps assume that the use of a medium of communication over a long period will to some extent determine the character of knowledge to be communicated and suggest that its pervasive influence will eventually create a civilization in which life and flexibility will become exceedingly difficult to maintain and that the advantages of a new medium will become such as to lead to the emergence of a new civilization.” (Bias of Communication, 34)

  10. The Bias of Communication: Main argument • Human action is limited within the scopes of time and space • Communication media are resources to overcome the limits of time and space • Different types of communication media have different characteristics • Media are either space-biased or time-biased

  11. In Scannells words: ”Different media, using different materials, have different consequences for the control of time and space. Innis called this the bias of communication.” (Scannell, P. 2005, p. 127)

  12. Characteristics of a society where ’time-biased’ communication is dominant • pre-literate, oral and tribal • Emphasis on continuity • Repetition and memory • New knowledge limited • Less possibility for abstraction • Geographically confined • Emphasis on collectivity and the common good • Space is scarce and thus needs to be guarded • Religion generally important

  13. Characteristics of a society where ’space-biased’ communication is dominant • secular, materialistic and impersonal • abstract knowledge • modes of thought are more rational • space is something to be conquered • Political power

  14. Greek civilization and Roman Empire - Ancient Greece the ’oral tradition’ was dominant = ”face-to-face” communication. TIME-biased - Roman Empire/Imperialism was underpinned by writing. SPACE-biased

  15. ’Monopolies of Knowlege’ • Important point Innis wanted to put forward • Marxist background evident • Communication disturbs/enforces class struggle

  16. Monopoly of Knowledge: Quick Case Study The journalist before the Internet and ”web 2.0”: • The journalist possessing a monopoly of knowledge: Journalists are the ones who ’find the facts’ Journalists are the ones skilled in writing Journalists are the ones telling the truth

  17. Monopoly of Knowledge: Quick Case Study • The journalist after introduction of new communication media The journalist ’monopoly of knowledge’ disturbed: • Anyone can publish ’journalistic work’ on the web and thus ”set the agenda” • Anyone can search the web for ”the facts” • Journalist as a type of social class (profession) challenged

  18. How is Innis relevant today? • What is the bias of todays media landscape and how is that bias visible in our societal structure? • Other visible disturbances/enforcments in different ”monopolies of knowledge” today?

  19. James Carey (1934-2006) • ’A Tribute to Harold Innis’ ”Satellites and cable television, video phones and computer information utilities, telex and direct broadcasting, multinational corporations and common markets have posed anew all the questions Innis raised” (Carey, 1989)

  20. Discourses of ’The new world’ • Human rights • Starship earth • Global village • The cosmopoltian society • Post-modernity

  21. References and reading tips Carey, James. (1989). Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. Taylor & Francis Crowley, David & Heyer, Paul. (2007). Communication in History: Technology, Culture, Society. Pearson Education Inc. Innis, Harold. (1950). Empire and Communication. University of Toronto Press Innis, Harold. (1951). The Bias of Communication. University of Toronto Press Innis, Harold. (1930). The Fur Trade in Canada. University of Toronto Press Mosco, Vincent. (2009). The Political Economy of Communication. SAGE Publications Scannell, Paddy. (2005). Media and Communication. SAGE Publications

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