Information Overloaded

Communication is changing; it is and will have a huge effect on the ways we learn, teach, and communicate!

In 1991 I took a course called “Sociology of Communications”. We studied Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian Professor of English who was interested in media and communication and coined the well-known phrase – “the medium is the message” .

Ironically enough, I typed my Marshall McLuhan essay about the need to be producers and creators of media for that course on my Smith Corona electric typewriter (while wishing I could afford a Mac Classic like my roomate).

My audience for my labors was Professor Peter Weeks and the blue plastic storage box in my garage where those papers currently reside. My typewriter became my message; I got an A and passed the course and my ideas….well they are still in my garage.

I guess the point in all my ramblings is this–now when I write, I have the potential to have a real global audience. I write for more than my plastic storage bin and the professor that will give me marks.

The same can be said for the students we teach… and the same can be said for Mr McLuhan.

I can’t help wondering what he would think of his own interviews being on Youtube. No longer do you have to sit in a university course and buy a $150 text book to learn about Marshall McLuhan. I can google his name and read about him on a website; I can watch his interviews on youtube, and I can even hear his radio interviews.

The participatory nature of our changing Web would really have him saying, “I told you so”. (Check out the video below)

I was reading on Chris Brogan’s blog a while back and he wrote a post that I thought was very clever, called ” 100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write.” Well Chris, this one’ s for you.

I love Facebook. I can’t help it. And here is one of the many reasons why.

I live approximately 2 hours from my 84 year old grandmother. She lives alone and does not drive. About 3 years ago at Christmas time she was at my parents’ home and I asked her if she would like to sit down an play a game with someone online. She had never been near a computer before.

Needless to say, the rest is history.

The quality of Nanny’s life took a dramatic turn for the better once she purchased her 500$ eMachine from Tiger Direct. She is connected in a way that every 85 year old should be. She banks online, chats with family and friends on MSN, uploads pictures of the sunset she has captured on her new digital camera that she just received for her birthday, and plays games on one of her favorite sites, Pogo. She decided to treat herself to a Christmas present last year and bought herself the Club Pogo membership online.

While other ladies her age are moaning about aches and pains, my nan is commenting on my latest vacation pictures that I posted, scanning old pictures and writing the back story behind them, and discussing the benefits of Vista on her new computer [she is now on her second one].

She is connected, busy, and has become a very active part of an online community that consists of her family and friends through Facebook.

I must go check my Facebook profile. I think it’s my turn at Scrabble and I don’ t want to keep Nan waiting. She likes to win.