tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101859138648955033.post8980286523780586101..comments2024-03-16T14:29:04.010-04:00Comments on Lance Strate's Blog Time Passing: Some Comments on Defining "Medium" in Media Ecology ScholarshipLance Stratehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13033954765699126246noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101859138648955033.post-52164964980115459692014-08-19T18:38:44.826-04:002014-08-19T18:38:44.826-04:00I wouldn't call it a trap, Nick, many people w...I wouldn't call it a trap, Nick, many people wouldn't even make the leap you made, and many others only want to consider the materialities of communication. But for example we can think of the network itself, apart from whatever technology or channel is used, just the network of relationships, as a medium. Lance Stratehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13033954765699126246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101859138648955033.post-63138516756584821942014-08-19T11:38:13.032-04:002014-08-19T11:38:13.032-04:00Thanks for the enlightening response. I'm cau...Thanks for the enlightening response. I'm caught in that trap of viewing media only as tools and physical environments to convey messages. I have to "think outside the material box." Nick Leshihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04735641810049227247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101859138648955033.post-32350904698322129312014-08-16T18:03:03.229-04:002014-08-16T18:03:03.229-04:00Thanks for the comment, Nick, and you raise a good...Thanks for the comment, Nick, and you raise a good point. I would say that a canvas and a stage both represent different aspects of the concept of a medium. Artists would acknowledge the canvas as well as the types of paint that they use as the medium they work with, and in. The stage is certainly a medium for theatrical performance, as is the proscenium arch, the latter being a by-product of literacy. The metaphor of stage is important in Erving Goffman's work on communication as dramatic performance, and certainly can be understood as a kind of medium, and environment.<br /><br />As metaphors, both canvas and stage highlight aspects of the concept of medium, but I don't think they're sufficient on their own. For example, if we think of conversation as a medium, which is why we say we're "in" a conversation, then neither term quite gets at the sense of medium as interaction or relationship. They both have a strong material connotation that does not exactly cover the sense of medium as form or pattern.Lance Stratehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13033954765699126246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9101859138648955033.post-61324966246226399612014-08-15T17:39:26.797-04:002014-08-15T17:39:26.797-04:00Would you say that "medium" is a metapho...Would you say that "medium" is a metaphorical "canvas" or "stage" for communicating or acting?Nick Leshihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04735641810049227247noreply@blogger.com