Scenes From the Center

So, you no doubt recall that I organized Media @ the Center: A McLuhan Centenary Symposium at Fordham, and there, I gave you the link to my previous post on the subject (and see also McLuhan on Radio).  And due to the good graces and generosity, not to mention the sharp eye and talented shutter of my colleague from Fordham's Philosophy Department, Babette Babich, I can share with you some snapshots from the morning and evening sessions.  So here comes another photo blog, but this one's a biggie.

Let's start with me opening the symposium, shall we?

And here below we see Andrew McLuhan on the right, next to Eric McLuhan, and Mark Stahlman on the other side, with a certain MEA dignitary in the row above.

And below is Joseph Kim, who presented on Marshall McLuhan's Theological Anthropology.

The first session on McLuhan at Fordham included Fordham alums John Carey, below left, now a Professor of Communication and Media Management in our Business School, and Jacqueline Nardi Egan, below right,

and Paul Ryan, video artist who teaches at the New School, who was McLuhan's teaching assistant at Fordham,

and New York Metropolitan Area radio legend, Pete Fornatale, below right, and Anthony Perrotto, two more Fordham alums,

 and me, a'moderatin' things,

and Pete Fornatale one more time.

And now this, during one of our breaks, me and my friend and media ecology big brother, Joshua Meyrowitz.

And here's Josh again with Bob Logan, Toronto-based physics professor and McLuhan collaborator.

And here we have Andrew McLuhan again, talking to Dominique Scheffel-Dunand of York University, and Director of the McLuhan Center at the University of Toronto.  Oh, and that's Paul Levinson in the background in the center of the shot, and Eric McLuhan all the way on the right.

Speaking of Eric, here are a trio of shots of him talking to Renee Cherow-O'Leary.

And then there's Paul Grosswiler, all the way from Maine, with son in tow (on the left).

Me again, yakking away.

And the model media ecologist, Bob Blechman on the right, with Pete Fornatale smiling for the camera behind him on the left.

And here's Paul Levinson laughing it up with Josh Meyrowitz, whose back is to the camera.

And Pete Fornatale telling Bob Logan that he has to run.

But he still has time for one more photo op.

And me again.

And some portraits, of Paul Grosswiler,

Joshua Meyrowitz, 

Paul Levinson,

Bob Blechman,

and Bob's twin brother, Bob,

and Paul again,

And Josh, 

and Andrew McLuhan,

and Bob Logan,

and Anthony Perrotto.

And Eric McLuhan being interviewed, with Bob Blechman in the background, talking to Paul Levinson below.

And now, here's me looking goofy.

 and Dominique Scheffel-Dunand and Bob Logan take their seats in the audience.
 

And now our evening session, with me as moderator again, and Gary Gumpert on the right,

and Joshua Meyrowitz on his right,

and Dominique Scheffel-Dunand on his right,

and Paul Grosswiler on his right, here cut off at the left edge, and Daniel Czitrom on his right, and

Gary,

Josh,

me,

Gary,

Josh,

Paul, this time in full,

Dan, 

and me, me, me.

And that's all folks...  for now.  More pictures to come, so keep an eye out...

And On the Panel

Another quick post of a photo, also a bit out of focus, this one taken at the American Museum of Natural History during the panel discussion that followed the screening of "An Ecology of Mind," Nora Bateson's documentary about her father, Gregory Bateson (see my previous post, Stepping Up For An Ecology of Mind).

The photo appeared over on Facebook, along with the comment from Nora:

The NYC premiere panel, Mary Pipher (psychologist), Mary Catherine Bateson (anthropologist), Rex Weyler (co-founder Greenpeace International), Susan Oyama (developmental systems, evolution), Lance Strate (communication and media) and me... together we destabilized the cultural script, and went deep into the ecology of conversation.

Ecology of conversation, I like that! And I'm looking forward to some more with the panel discussion that will follow the screening of Connected at Fordham tomorrow afternoon (see my recent post, Get Connected!). 

At the Podium

Just a quick post as I'm leaving Grand Rapids in a little while--a photo taken by the good people at Grand Valley State of me at the podium, giving my lecture, On the Binding Biases of Time.  It was a good-sized audience, about 200 in attendance.

I'm a little out of focus, I know.  But perhaps that's for the best?

Down in the Valley

Greetings from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where just a few hours ago I gave my talk on the binding biases of time at Grand Valley State University.  Special thanks go out to my hosts, Corey Anton and Valerie Peterson, and Danielle Wiese Leek, and Peter Zhang.  I'm looking forward to visiting Danielle and Peter's classes tomorrow.

So, anyway, it's after the fact, but here's another item that appeared online about my talk on the university's website:  Communications leader to give lecture.  And there's a picture of me, with the caption, "Lance Strate will speak on Media Ecology," and here it is:

And here's the text to go with it:

Lance Strate, professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University and one of the founders of the Media Ecology Association, will give a lecture Wednesday, September 21, at 7:30 p.m. at Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 W Fulton, Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Strate is internationally recognized for his intellectual leadership in the field of communication. He has served as executive director of the Institute of General Semantics (2008-2001), editor of the Speech Communication Annual, and Explorations in Media Ecology, and is supervisory editor of the media ecology book series published by Hampton Press. Translations of his writings have appeared in French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Chinese and Quenya.

His lecture will draw from his recent book, On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology (2011). It consists of a series of explorations into our use of symbols, language, and media to relate to our environment, and how our different modes of perception and communication influence human consciousness, culture, and social organization. Strate grapples with the question of what it means to be human, and what the prospects may be for humanity’s continued survival. He maintains a blog about media at http://lancestrate.blogspot.com.

The lecture is being presented by The School of Communications. For more information, contact Associate Professor Valerie Peterson, at petersov@gvsu.edu, or x12981.

So, you can still contact Val if you like, even though the talk's all done, I'm sure she'll be glad to hear from you.  And once again, thanks to all of the fine folks out here, the audience was gracious, there were some really great questions asked, and lots of bright and friendly faces.  And the lecture was taped, so I may be able to put it up on YouTube and share it with you here.  Stay tuned, and we'll see!

McLuhan Nostalgia at Fordham University

So, when I organized the Media @ the Center Marshall McLuhan Centenary Symposium at Fordham University, which took place this past Saturday (see my previous post, Media @ the Center: A McLuhan Centenary Symposium at Fordham), I thought it would be a great idea to have a session on the year McLuhan spent at Fordham as our Albert Schweitzer Professor of the Humanities, back in 1967-1968. 

To this end, I was able to recruit, with Eric McLuhan's help, Jacqueline Nardi Egan, who in turn got me in touch with Anthony Perrotto, and I already had John Carey on board, he's now on the Fordham faculty in the Communication and Media Management program in the Gabelli School of Business.  All three were students who took classes with McLuhan, and Edmund Carpenter, while they were at Fordham, all having been recruited, interviewed, and vetted by John Culkin, then a Jesuit, and the Fordham communication professor who brought McLuhan to New York. And all three also spoke very highly of Tony Schwartz, the media producer and McLuhan associate.

I was especially pleased to be able to recruit radio legend Pete Fornatale for the session.  Pete now does a show on Fordham's public radio station, WFUV, and was a Fordham student back in the sixties, taking courses with Culkin, and at that time met and was influenced by McLuhan, and Tony Schwartz for that matter, although he graduated before McLuhan came here as the Schweitzer Chair.  Rounding out the panel was video artist and media philosopher Paul Ryan, who also teaches at the New School, and was McLuhan's teaching assistant for his Fordham year.

I was the moderator of the panel, I should add, and Eric McLuhan was in the audience, and participated in a major way during the question and answer session.  Here's a picture of Eric:

 And here's one of Paul Ryan (left) and John Carey (right) on the panel:

Both photos were taken by Janet Sassi, who wrote up the story for Fordham's website, where it's filed under the headline of:  Former Students Recall Marshall McLuhan's Fordham Year.  And I'm sure Janet won't mind if I share her report here with you all.  It starts like this:

The year was 1968. The Vietnam War was raging, counterculture was flourishing, and Marshall McLuhan was teaching media at Fordham.

On Saturday, Sept. 17, a group of McLuhan’s former Fordham University students shared their recollections as part of a Centenary Symposium recognizing what would have been the media theorist’s 100th year. The symposium was coordinated by Lance Strate, Ph.D., professor of communication and media studies.

Thanks for the shout-out there, Janet, I do appreciate it!  Ok, back to the story...

One of the most enigmatic theorists of the 20th century, McLuhan equated the rise of electronic media with a revolution in human thinking and group behavior, and launched the idea that “the medium is the message.” In the 1960s, he predicted the proliferation of the Internet and the shift to electronic books.

During the 1967-1968 academic year, McLuhan, the Albert Schweitzer Chair in Humanities, oversaw an alternative curriculum of lectures, film showings and independent study assignments for students. McLuhan’s appointment came about through communications professor John Culkin, S.J., a longtime colleague of McLuhan’s and himself a media expert.

Pete Fornatale (FCRH ’67), recalls the first time he heard of McLuhan at a seminar during the summer of 1965 on how to use media in the classroom. 

And here is an often overlooked fact:  McLuhan's relationship with Fordham didn't begin with the Schweitzer Chair.  Culkin was bringing McLuhan down to New York to speak to his students and talk at conferences he organized for a number of years prior to his appointment here.

“We were astounded by this man,” Fornatale said. “To this day, I say that it was the day that changed my life. Everything I have done in my career has somehow reflected the wisdom that I got from that core group of people that Father Culkin brought to Fordham in the ’60s.”

Following McLuhan’s lectures could be difficult, said students, given his belief in—and fascination with—non-linear means of communicating in the electronic age.

“There were times when I couldn’t understand a word he said,” said video producer Anthony Perrotto (FCRH ’69). But Perrotto was impressed with a film lab he did with McLuhan, in which they got access to the original studios where Thomas Edison did his early filmmaking.

“We took the studio over,” he said. “We painted it all kinds of psychedelic colors and made sound and light shows with music from the ’60s,” he recalled. “That was what gave me the seeds of love for communication and film.”

 I knew that Edison had a studio in the Bronx, but I didn't realize it was right by Fordham's campus.  And you gotta love that bit about painting it psychedelic.  Well, I gotta love it anyway, that is so sixties! And what was the sixties without the antiwar movement?

Panelist Paul Ryan, associate professor of media studies at The New School, said he came to Fordham to do his alternate service on a Conscious Objector draft status with McLuhan--who believed that the Vietnam war was lost in the living rooms of America and not on the battlefields.

“Afterward, I stayed with that trajectory,” said Ryan, whose projects have included using video to interpret ecological systems. “I got involved in the alternate video movement and went on to work with video for many years.”

The controversial McLuhan presence at Fordham that year, said John Carey, Ph.D., professor of communications and media management, not only changed the trajectory of the19-year-old student’s plans for law school; it also benefitted Fordham.

“McLuhan put media studies on the map [even though] he was heavily criticized at the time,” said Carey, a former media research analyst who teaches in Fordham’s business schools. “Fordham was academically strong and very ambitious—we had our sights set on beating Columbia. For someone like McLuhan to come in . . . it advanced our reputation.”

Ironically, McLuhan’s year at Fordham was never captured on film (An audiotape of one of McLuhan’s lectures is posted at the symposium’s website). 

That's the website I helped to set up!  And I loved hearing about those academic ambitions, that all sounded very exciting.  Now here's a great anecdote illustrating the kind of media ecological practice that McLuhan, Ted Carpenter, and Tony Schwartz were advocating:

But McLuhan’s ideas and theories are evidenced every day, Fornatale said. He recalled how a false rumor that Bruce Springsteen was going to do a live concert at a New Jersey theatre prompted hundreds of fans to turn up outside the theatre.

When Springsteen's promoter showed up to tell the fans that there was no concert, the fans ignored him.

The promoter then called Fornatale’s station (at the time, WNEW-FM) and asked if he would announce there was no concert over the air. Fornatale did so, and the crowd disbursed.

“I never saw as clearly as on that day the connection between humans and media,” Fornatale said. “It was undeniable.”

And let's not forget about the symposium's guest of honor...

The all-day symposium featured a lecture by McLuhan’s son, Eric, a professor at the University of Toronto, on “Media and Formal Cause.”

The younger McLuhan accompanied his father during the 1967-1968 year at Fordham. He taught one course on the “Effects of Television,” where students helped measure the results of film versus television viewing on themselves.

The book, Media and Formal Cause, by Marshall and Eric McLuhan, can be ordered right here from this blog, just over on the right side there... see it?  Okay, and I should add that Eric wrote a paper about what became known as The Fordham Experiment, which was delivered at the first Media Ecology Association convention, hosted by Fordham in 2000, and available via the MEA's online proceedings.  So any way, and now a word form our sponsors:

The event was sponsored by the president’s and provost’s offices at Fordham, the Department of Communication and Media Studies and others.

And there you have it!  Nostalgia, but not pointless, in my opinion, but rather memories that point us in the right direction...  onward!

 

Good Things From the Valley

So, on Wednesday I'm off to Grand Rapids, that's in Michigan you know, to give a public lecture there, and then make a guest appearance in some classes the day after.  It's happening at Grand Valley State University, and on that school's online calendar, it's listed as Talk by Media Ecologist Lance Strate, which is pretty descriptive of what I plan to do, which is talk, and of what I am, which is, a media ecologist.  If you don't want to click on the link and look at the actual website, you know me, I'm always willing to save you a step and some wear and tear on the old mousepad (remember mouse pads?), so here's what it says:

Date and Time: Wednesday, September 21, 2011
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Location:  Loosemore Auditorium (Downtown campus)
Description:  Lance Strate will give a lecture entitled
"ON THE BINDING BIASES OF TIME" 

Time-binding is a key term in general semantics - an under-recognized general science of human valuation deeply rooted in communication theory. 

Loosemore Auditorium (downtown)
Wednesday,  September 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. 

Lance  Strate  is  Professor  of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University (1989-present)  and  is  the author of On the Binding Biases of Time  and  Other  Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology (2011), and Echoes  and  Reflections:  On Media Ecology as a Field of Study (2006), and co-editor  of  several  anthologies including The Legacy of McLuhan (2005), two  editions  of  Communication  and Cyberspace:  Social Interaction in an Electronic  Environment  (1996, 2003), and the forthcoming Korzybski And...  collection  (edited  with  Corey  Anton).    He  is  a founder of the Media Ecology Association,   having   served   as  the  MEA's  first  president (1998-2009),  and  remains a member of its Board of Directors, and has also served  as  the  Executive  Director  of the Institute of General Semantics (2008-2011).   He  maintains  a  blog  about  media,  technology, language, symbols, etc., entitled Blog Time Passing <http://lancestrate.blogspot.com>; (2007-present), as  well as a poetry blog <http://www.myspace.com/lancestrate/blog>;   (2007-present), and he is a partner  in  NeoPoiesis  Press (2009-present).  Translations of his writing have appeared in French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Quenya. 

Contact:  Valerie Peterson Valerie Peterson
Category:  Academic

Now, if you're wondering who Valerie Peterson Valerie Peterson is, first of all let me note that her name is not some kind of weird sixties thing, or a tribute to the classic Norman Lear sitcom soap opera, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.  It just seems to be some sort of mistake, as it is a name so nice you can say it twice, but most of the time she just goes by the singular, Valerie Peterson.  And apart from being an outstanding communication scholar and author, Valerie is married to my good friend and colleague, Corey Anton, and this husband and wife team worked in tandem (or tag team fashion) to bring me out for a visit and a spiel.

So, anyway, there's also an article in the Grand Valley Lanthorn (what the hell is a lanthorn?  apparently, it is an archaic variation on the word lantern.  hey, how about a superhero called the Green Lanthorn?  you know, kind of a cross between Green Lantern and Green Hornet? eh?  well, never mind...) with the catchy headline of, Media ecologist to lead discussion at GVSU.  Again, if it's too much trouble to go over there and read the article, I'll just tote it on over to you.  Wait right here while I go get it.  Oh, in the meantime, they grabbed a picture of me from here on Blog Time Passing, crediting the blog nicely enough, and here's the one they picked out:

And the caption below it reads:  "Courtesy Photo / lancestrate.blogspot.com Author Lance Strate will be giving a lecture on Media Ecology at GVSU".


And now for the article by one Chris LaFoy:

As communications worldwide continue to constantly evolve, understanding the media environment can be critical, and an upcoming speaker at Grand Valley State University will tackle the issue. 

GVSU will host Dr. Lance Strate, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, for a discussion about media ecology. 

According to the Media Ecology Association, which Strate co-founded, media ecology is the study of media with the idea that technology and communication play a pivotal role in human affairs. 

The discussion will include topics from Strate’s newly released sixth book, “On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology.” 

According to Strate’s website, the book explores the relationships of symbols, language and media and examines how these things are perceived by humans in the environment of communication. 

This will be Strate’s second trip to GVSU. 

“Dr. Strate came here last year briefly,” said Dr. Valerie Peterson, associate professor of communications at GVSU. “We wanted to bring him back and share him with more people.” 

Just breaking in for a moment here.  Yeah, share me, pass me around, I'm into it!

Strate will appear partly because of the efforts of his colleague and personal friend Corey Anton, associate professor of communications at GVSU. Anton has served as a trustee on the Board of Directors of the MEA and as an editor for the MEA’s publication, “Explorations in Media Ecology.”

“Strate is a very professional, polished speaker,” Anton said. “He really puts on a show.” 

Me again.  I hope they're not expecting me to sing or dance...

Anton has dedicated much of his academic career to media ecology. He has published multiple books, including “Communication Uncovered: General Semantics and Media Ecology” and “Valuation and Media Ecology: Ethics, Morals, and Laws.” 

Strate is considered a leading mind in the field of media ecology; he sits on numerous boards and councils, many dealing directly with media ecology. 

His current teaching position at Fordham University allows him to teach a diverse range of subjects including science fiction and popular culture. 

Peterson said the extensive communications department at GVSU makes it a good fit for Strate to visit. 

“GVSU has film programs, theatre programs, photography programs and more,” she added. “Some schools just don’t have the media programs that we do.” 

Strate writes and maintains a blog about his work and research at www.lancestrate.blogspot.com. 

All right, folks!  Another media mention for Blog Time Passing!

Strate’s guest lecture will be held in the Loosemore Auditorium in the DeVos Center at the Pew Campus on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Yes! What? Wait a minute!  Chris, hey, you got the day wrong.  It's on Wednesday, not Monday.   I hope no one came this evening.  But if you are in the area, stop by and say hello!  On Wednesday.

One last thing.  The title of this post is a reference that will only register for readers of a certain age, as it alludes to the old Green Giant TV commercials.  I mix it up a little, though, it's good things from the garden, and the garden is in the valley, but hey, the important thing is, it's not easy being green, even if you are a giant.  Or a lanthorn.  So, let me leave you with this very important message:





And seriously, if you are in the Grand Rapids neighborhood, I do hope to see you there on WEDNESDAY!

Get Connected!

Connected is a visually stunning documentary created by Tiffany Shlain and her colleagues, and we will have a preview screening of the film at Fordham University next week, on Sunday, September 25th.

We had the pleasure of seeing a portion of the film as a work in progress at the New Languages, New Relations, New Realities symposium I organized last year, in conjunction with the Institute of General Semantics, held at Fordham, and I have since viewed the final version.  It is a marvelously appealing, and touching film that connects the macro concerns of ecology and the environment, both natural and mediated, and how we and everything else are all interconnected, along with a biographical account of Tiffany's relationship with her father, the late Dr. Leonard Shlain, who I memorized here in a post entitled A Brain to Remember, Rest in Peace Leonard Shlain.

Leonard Shlain was the author of several books rooted in the media ecology perspective, including Art and Physics, The Alphabet vs. the Goddess, Sex, Time, and Power, and the work he completed shortly before he passed away, the yet unpublished Leonardo’s Brain.   Dr. Shlain's work was strongly influenced by Marshall McLuhan, and so it seemed only fitting to list our screening as a follow-up event to yesterday's symposium:

Media @ the Center

A Fordham University Marshall McLuhan Centenary Event

Special Preview Screening of Connected

followed by a panel discussion
on September 25, 2011

1:00-5:00 PM

Fordham University
McNally Auditorium
Law School Building

140 W. 62nd Street
Between Columbus & Amsterdam Avenues

Free and Open to the Public
http://www.fordham.edu/mcluhan

The film's style is similar to the award-winning short film created by Tiffany & co., The Tribe, in its use of a fast-paced cutting (montage, for all you film theorists, like Sergei Eisenstein, not like a Rocky training sequence) that invokes the sensibility of web surfing and hyperlinks, and in its amazing use of visual metaphor.  You can also get a taste of the style from the very short video, Yelp!, which I featured in a previous post, A Connected Yelp! To give you a taste of this new film, here's the trailer:

And here's the write up on YouTube:

Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all? In this funny, eye-opening, and inspiring film, director Tiffany Shlain takes audiences on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride to discover what it means to be connected in the 21st century. From founding The Webby Awards to being a passionate advocate for The National Day of Unplugging, Shlain's love/hate relationship with technology serves as the springboard for a thrilling exploration of modern life...  and our interconnected future.

Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. As Shlain's father battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, her very understanding of connection is challenged. Using a brilliant mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. A personal film with universal relevance, Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead.

More information about the film and where it's playing can be found at the official website, http://connectedthefilm.com.  At our event on September 25th, we will follow the screening with a panel discussion:

Moderator: Lance Strate, Fordham University

      Panelists:                     T. C. McLuhan, author and filmmaker

Susan Maushart, Fordham University

Terence P. Moran, New York University

Robert Seidman, author and screenwriter

Frederick J. Wertz, Fordham University

So it should be an intellectually stimulating, inspiring, and entertaining event.  I hope to see you there!

McLuhan on Radio

In anticipation of this coming Saturday's big blow out, Media @ the Center: A McLuhan Centenary Symposium, our good friends producer Catie Talarski and host John Dankosky of the Connecticut Public Broadcasting radio program, Where We Live, made the McLuhan Centenary their topic for yesterday morning's radio show.  The podcast was available online a few hours later, and I would embed it here, but Blogger strangely does not allow us to embed audio files, only videos.  So you have to go over to Where We Live: Marshall McLuhan's Media Message to listen to it, and download the MP3 for future reference.

Eric McLuhan was the main guest on this program, and I have to say that he was in rare form, or perhaps more to the point, there was very good chemistry between him and John Dankosky, that resulted in an especially interesting show.  I join in for the second half, and did my best not to detract from the proceedings (although I did interrupt Eric once--sorry about that).  

(I was supposed to be participating from the beginning, through a remote link-up from Fordham's WFUV studio, but the young student tech who was doing it for the first time just couldn't make it work, and after half an hour of failed attempts, just put me on a regular phone line. But that was okay, I'm glad Eric had more time to shine, and that was the only thing that went wrong yesterday, as I also was on a panel discussion on Gregory Bateson at the American Museum of Natural History that same evening, but you know that from my previous post, Stepping Up For An Ecology of Mind.  I should add that the panel discussion went very well, it was especially enjoyable to participate with filmmaker Nora Bateson and her sister, the esteemed scholar Mary Catherine Bateson, and with Rex Weyler, co-founder of Greenpeace International (an organization whose genesis was strongly influenced by both Bateson and McLuhan).  It was also a great pleasure spending some time talking with another of McLuhan's offspring there, Teri aka TC McLuhan, an author and filmmaker who gave the documentary, An Ecology of Mind, two thumbs up!).

Anyway, in case you're still not sure about whether to head on over to Where We Live: Marshall McLuhan's Media Message or not, here's the write-up from their page:

Marshall McLuhan was the prophet of today’s digital world.  This year, he would have turned 100.  
Try on, for example, this passage from the beginning of McLuhan’s most widely read work, “The Medium is the Massage.”

Youth instinctively understands the present environment – the electric drama. It lives mythically and in depth. This is the reason for the great alienation between generations. Wars, revolutions, civil uprisings are interfaces within the new environments created by electric informational media.

Sound at all like what happened with Twitter and the Arab spring?  But to be fair, it also described what was already happening in the 1960s when many of his ideas took root - pictures from Vietnam, rock stars on television - a glimpse of counterculture in everyone’s living room.

But if McLuhan was right - the medium itself was the message - not the content.  So what’s on the media horizon?  What does Marshall McLuhan tell us about how we are today?

For the answers to these, and many other questions, tune in, link in, or download!

On 9/11/11 Remembering the Heart of New York

On this sad day of remembrance, I would like to share with you a video, just released, which features a song called "The Heart of New York" by recording artist John Watts, with animation provided by his daughter, Leila Watts.  The song and video are sensitive and moving, and here is what John has written about it over on YouTube:

'The Heart of New York' was originally a song inspired by the eloquent way in which the victims of September 11 were able to communicate to their loved ones on the phone, under those terrible circumstances - simply beautiful human communication. My daughter Leila animated those words to accompany the music. I was very interested in the idea that some of the lasting legacy should be sentences and sentiments and words, rather than images of disaster. The wonders of human nature were demonstrated to me by such clear and dignified expressions of love in adversity. The animation is mine and Leila's tribute to the victims and their relatives and friends.

Actually, it would be best if you saw it on YouTube, because then it would count as a view, and maybe it can go viral--here's the link:  

http://youtu.be/YAJIaRj7-xU

But of course, you can also view it here (and then go watch it again on YouTube):

In contrast to the spectacular and sensational videos of the planes hitting the twin towers, and their subsequent collapse, "The Heart of New York" provides an intimate portrait, on a human scale, of the tragedy, based on the personal medium of the cell phone, and utilizing the less visceral visual motif of the alphabet.  

The song alludes to the longstanding promotion of New York:  I Love New York and I ♥ New York:

And the song reminds us that the true heart of New York is not to be found in any advertising campaign, or in any building or monument.  

The heart of New York is the people.  That became so very apparent in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and it has been crystal clear ever since.  And I want to say, thank you John, for reminding us of that.

John Watts is a recording artist with 20+ albums under his belt going back to the 80s with the band Fischer-Z, and then solo.  Some of you may remember that he joined us for the 2009 IGS conference, and treated us to an outstanding one-man performance.

Simply put, John is a great guy whose work deserves more recognition than it gets, and this video especially ought to be seen far and wide.  If you can, please let others know about it.