Sunday, March 11, 2007

Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis & McLuhan

I've already sent this message to a few listservs, but might as well put it into my personal Congressional Record:

A special website set up by Library and Archives Canada - Bibliothèque et Archives Canada is now accessible, courtesy of Project Manager Don Wallace and doctoral student Joanne Stober. The site, which is particularly intended to be a resource for students, is entitled "Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan," includes summaries of both scholars' lives and works, and a set of short, accessible essays on the topic of "Archives as Medium," with contributions from Robert Babe, William Buxton, Michael Cheney, Terry Cook, Kim Sawchuk, and yours truly. There's also a Forum section for further discussion.

The only problem with the site is, outside of my essay, the strange and inexplicable omission of any reference to media ecology in the midst of discussions of technological determinism and medium theory. It's as if whoever prepared that material missed most of the the last decade in writing up the legacies of Innis and McLuhan. Not that we (meaning the MEA and media ecologists in general) are in desperate need of the publicity, but it does make the site less than completely accurate or relevent. Nevertheless, it is a nice addition to the existing online resources on media ecology.

Lance Strate

You can access the site at:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/innis-mcluhan/

You can get to my own essay directly at:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/innis-mcluhan/002033-4060-e.html

and just for the record, there's also a French translation (I cannot vouch for its quality or accuracy, though):
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/innis-mcluhan/002033-4060-f.html

No comments: