Understanding New Media

Robert K. Logan (PhD, MIT, 1965) is Professor Emeritus of Physics and St. Michael’s College Fellow at the University of Toronto. He is the author of many books and articles including Understanding New Media: Extending Marshall McLuhan, (Peter Lang, 2010) and The Future of the Library: From Electric Media to Digital Media (Peter Lang, 2016).

Contents: «New Media» and Marshall McLuhan: An Introduction – McLuhan’s Methodology: Media as Extensions of Man and Mankind – Five Communication Ages: Adding the Mimetic and the Interactive Digital Ages – To What Extent Do the «New Media» Confirm or Contradict McLuhan’s Predictions – The 15 Messages of «New Media»: An Overview – The «Digital Economy»: An Expansion of the Knowledge Economy – Scaffolding and Cascading Technologies and Media: Understanding New Media as the Extensions of Earlier Media or the Extensions of Extensions – The Spoken Word – The Written Word – Roads and Paper Routes – Number – Clothing – Housing – Money – Clocks – The Print – Comics – The Printed Word: Books and Libraries – Wheel, Bicycle, and Airplane – The Photograph – Press (or Newspapers) and the News – Motorcar – Ads – Games – Telegraph – The Typewriter – The Telephone – Impact of the New Media on the Telephone – The Phonograph and New Modes of Recorded Music – Movies and Digital Videos – Radio – Television – Weapons – Automation (Plus the Factory) – Hybrid or Convergent Technologies – The Multifunction Printer, Photocopier, Scanner, and Fax – Personal Computers – The Smartphone – Computer Software – Computing – E-Mail, Instant Messaging (IM), and Short Message Service (SMS) – Bulletin Boards, Usenets, Listservs, and Chat – The World Wide Web – Social Media Including Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat – Blogs – Search Engines Plus Google and Libraries – Video Conferencing and Web-Based Collaboration Tools – Virtual Reality (VR) and Simulations – Robots, Bots, and Agents – Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Expert Systems – «Smart Tags» and Dataspace – Enabling Technologies Not Dealt With in Understanding Media.