La Comprensión de los Medios en la Era Digital

So, what's up with the Spanish title for this post, you may be asking? Or maybe you're just saying, ¿Qué pasa?

Well here's the story. A while back, my friends and colleagues from Mexico, Fernando Gutiérrez and Octavio Islas, asked me if I would co-edit an anthology with them on the theme of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. That book was published back in 1964, and our volume came out last year, just a couple of years past the anniversary.

Now, let me make it clear that I do not speak Spanish, so my role as editor was somewhat different from what it would normally be. Aside from contributing my own chapter, I solicited 7 English language contributions, which I was responsible for editing, prior to their translation. In case you were curious, those chapter authors are Corey Anton, Paul Levinson, Paul Lippert, Robert K. Logan, Eric McLuhan, James Morrison, and Michael Plugh.

I also solicited one other contribution that was written in Portuguese, written by Brazilian scholars Adriana Braga and Adriano Rodrigues, which I didn't edit, seeing as I don't speak Portuguese either. The rest of the contributors were Carlos Fernández Collado, Jesús Galindo, Jorge Hidalgo, and Claudia Benassini, along with Fernando and Octavio.

So anyway, the book was published by a Mexico City based publisher, Alfaomega, and here's the cover:

And you can read all about the book on the publisher's website, if you can read Spanish, that is. And here is the Table of Contents:

Presentació

Prefacio James Morrison

Capítulo 1 Eric McLuhan
50 años después...Retrospección y perspectiva de la obra de Marshall McLuhan

Capítulo 2 Fernando Gutiérrez
La contribución de Marshall McLuhan para la comprensión de los ambientes mediáticos en la nueva era digital

Capítulo 3 Octavio Islas
Apuntes esenciales para una mejor lectura de La Comprensión de los medios como las extensiones del hombre

Capítulo 4 Lance Strate
El mensaje en La comprensión de los medios

Capítulo 5 Carlos Fernández Collado
Topoguía descriptiva para La comprensión de los medios

Capítulo 6 Jesús Galindo
La ingeniería en comunicación social y el pensamiento de Marshall McLuhan. Diálogo sobre constructivismo tecnológico de lo social

Capítulo 7 Corey Anton
Cinco formas para entender... Los Medios como las Extensiones del Hombre

Capítulo 8 Paul Lippert
McLuhan como una forma de arte

Capítulo 9 Robert K. Logan
McLuhan y su comprensión de los medios

Capítulo 10 Adriana Braga y Adriano Rodrigues
El pensamiento sistémico y el sujeto en la obra de McLuhan

Capítulo 11 Michael Plugh
Un mundo inteligente: La extensión del proyecto de automatización de McLuhan

Capítulo 12 Jorge Hidalgo
La comprensión del hombre como una extensión de los medios

Capítulo 13 Paul Levinson
McLuhan en la era de los medios sociales

Capítulo 14 Claudia Benassini
La nueva aldea global: el caso Facebook

And in case you want to order a copy, here's the Amazon link (and ordering through this portal does help support these here blogging efforts):

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And I do want to add, given the current political climate, that I am especially proud to have a longstanding connection to my colleagues in Mexico, and that I have great respect and affection for them, and for their nation. 

I should mention that Octavio Islas is now on the faculty of the Universidad de los Hemisferios (University of the Hemispheres), in Quito, Ecuador. So this anthology is truly a pan-American product!

And, I guess that all that's left to say is, adios, until next time.