Week 2: Technological Determinism Vs Social Construction
Technological Determinism
Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)
Marshall McLuhan
The medium is the message
Content is unimportant in defining a medium. The real message of a medium lies in its capacity to transform humanity.
The message lies in the mediums capacity to transform humanity
Print as an extention of speech. Photography and Film as an extension of vision. Radio and photograph as an extension of hearing
McLuhan believed that the major effect of all media was to extend physical senses through technological means
By providing humanity with these physical extentions, the media apparatus radically transformed the scale of human society, our perceptions of it, ourselves and each other
Hot and Cold Media
According to McLuhan, there are two different types of media according to their operating temperature (its probably a spectrum)
Hot Media is technology whose message is linear, sub sequential and strictly controlled
Cold Media is multi vocal, participative and open ended
Radio
Photography
Cinema
Their appreciation requires extreme concentration. Audience is never required to participate and requires specialists to operate them
Telephone
Television
Speech
Does not require intense concentration, Audience is required to participate, does not require a specialized way of understanding
In its strongest forms, technological determinism is based on the belief that social history of humanity has been driven first and foremost by technological developments.
Technological developments and their applications are socially conditioned and determined
Technology emerges as a result of research and development, which is directed towards finding solutions for percieved problems and social needs
New technology emerges in the process of overcoming the limitations and applications of existing technologies
Military, transport, business and other institutional needs are more important than consumer needs while driving innovation
Identity Crisis of New Media
When a new medium emerges, they pass through a phase of identification, in which society converges its existing media habits into the new medium in order to define its functions and meanings. A process of adaptationbetween the two takes place.
Adaptation and Appropriation
A technology can still be socially shaped throughout its usage due to a couple of factors:
Adaptation. Technologies undergo this process in order to suit the environmental condition s in which they operate
Appropriation. In the course of practice, people might find new uses for technology that were not anticipated in the design process.