Illustrator “Katie”

the medium is the MASSAGE(AN INVENTORY OF EFFECTS)

As a one of guiding book for media, it was the book I wanted to read in Korean rather than in English in that more I read more I found it difficult because of the language translating in my head.
That was not really helpful to understand when I started to read so it made me search the book in Korean website again to better understand.
I didn’t know about this book at all but after I got the book from library, I knew that it was a book recommended by Adam.
I was lucky to get this book from library because I could see all image and text inside the book to better view instead of PDF file.

A title of the book, ‘the medium is the MASSAGE’ was unclear for me at first because I was thinking it might be some problem with printing the title text. However it was a right title as it shown and even, more familiar for me to understand than original word.

By that reason it gave me a question of the title why medium regards as MASSAGE instead of MESSAGE.

This book is about media, which define as MASSAGE and what media is.
The answer I found after I red the book is,
Media are stimulus (Like Massage). They stimulate our five senses. Thus power of media, which work on people, is compared to MASSAGE.

All media are extensions of some human faculty-psychic or physical. (p26)

The wheel…is an extension of the foot.
the book is an extension of the eye…
Clothing,an extension of the skin…
electric circuitry,an extension of the central nervous system.(p31-40)

These are interesting and understandable phrases.
Everything can be an extension of media. Maybe, they are already.

In this book, the author, Marshall Mcluhan states that the media are not limited in just communication medium but all media such as languages and money.
He didn’t see media as a mean. Furthermore he believes that media change our thought and act type so that media change people.

There are some good phrases, which I really like.

“They [I Ching] told me to continue what I was doing, and to spread JOY and revolution,”(p119)

It is true whether I am aware of it’s exist or not.

“I-I hardly know, sir, just at present –at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”(P154)

This is my favorite phrase.
Every time whenever I get up in the morning, myself defines as me but the end of day I used to be changed at least a bit by contacting many different things like different media.

We live with not only flowing information but also flowing media.
It is impossible to live without media’s interference.
Media satisfy our needs by different forms.
Also it gives more opportunities and choices to express us in an effective way.
In order to live successful life with media, we need a better understanding about media.

Reference
-the medium is the MASSAGE(AN INVENTORY OF EFFECTS)
McLuhan, M & Fiore,Q The medium is the massage, 1967, A Penguin Book, England.

A holiday at the end of the Earth: tourists paying to see global warming in action

After our group made a question about global waming, we were struggling to search something about global warming.
During that time I found interesting news about global warming on the Internet, which is about Global warming tourism.
Unfortunately, because of language problem, I was searching in Korean website instead of google to better understand. (This was what I used to do when I got stuck to find or don’t know about something)

It shows that one tour company really use global warming as their one of tour program.
This was really interesting research because what we discussed during past few week was ‘who is make money out of Global warming’ and it was a different kind of company we never expect from the question.
And this tour company is really making money.
US tour company,Betchart Expeditions Inc, is known as exploring not only safari expedition but also history expedition.
As their tour plan, whole program will be led by Dennis Schmitt who found out the new island in 2005 that was formed by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
This is called Warming Island now.
The program will set out from 25th Sep. to 6th Oct this year.

The tourists will be listening the lecture in terms of effect of global warming how it affects the environment while they travel around ‘warming island’ for one day.

The idea is very likely and not too bad but my question was what is it really for?
What is the purpose of the trip?
Are they really making people aware of seriousness of global warming?

Although this tour program is quite expensive, it is already started to sell by some people.

According to Michael McCarthy,he states that ‘The author Mark Lynas, who has a strong claim to be the world’s first global-warming tourist – he wrote the first book about its effects around the world, High Tide – agrees that people are looking for such different trips that global-warming tourism will probably be an inevitable development’

“The way things are going, people want new experiences not had by 10,000 people the previous week,” he said. “But there’s no such thing as the lonely planet any more. You’re facing hundreds of other people seeking a lonely planet wherever you go, so we are getting all sorts of new tourism. It’s broadening out more thematically, becoming issue tourism.”

“The idea of global-warming tourism is full of ironies,” he said. “If enough people expend enough fossil fuels to visit one Warming Island, they will ensure that there will be many more.”

I might be interesting tour idea for people but ironically, the fact is that tourism also is a one of factor, which encourage environmental problem.
There was another reading of that fact.
That was a article about Global Warming and Travel.

In this article, Bill Maloney, executive vice president of the American Society of Travel Agents in Alexandria says
“Tourism is an industry harmed by any harm to the environment. Period,”

My opinion of this new idea,‘Global warming tourism’,is that it doesn’t regard as just new tour program.
It is more about how it understandable for people.

Reference

Michael McCarthy,A holiday at the end of the Earth: tourists paying to see global warming in action, Published in May 03 2007
from http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2504641.ece


Betchartexpeditions,A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO WARMING ISLAND, GREENLAND from http://www.betchartexpeditions.com/antarctica_warmIs.htm

Mike Tidwell,Global Warming and Travel from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2001/09/09/AR2005041402506.html