The Ecology of Media

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying." - Woody Allen [1]
(Because, really? How could I not quote Woody Allen with a blog title such as mine?)

With all the technologies and media available to today’s society, it is possible for everyone to become – as Woody Allen said – immortal. Though he was likely referring to his films, it’s just as easy for Joe Schmo across the street to became infamous though the internet. Some would argue that there are probably more culturally and socially relevant media available; film, theatre, music, poetry, phonetic alphabet (McLuhan, anyone?). But what other technological advance combines and intertwines all the above revolutions better than the internet – a grand database for all the above be discovered.

I can also see why many consider the internet a useless junkyard of everything anyone’s ever done – there are no filters as to what can go on the internet. Like I mentioned earlier, anyone can become a published author, a musician, an actor, a filmmaker on the internet. As much as it can be seen as a holding ground for rubbish, moral decay and as Ursula Franklin once called it, "one giant dump"[2]. But still, it can also open you up to – well – EVERYTHING. Because it’s purpose is for it to literally just ALL be there. It’s like opening the door to Wonka’s factory and seeing everything ever created in binary code. 01011001 01000101 01010011 Hella trippy.

I’ve never thought about the internet this way until I started writing this blog entry. It is a little overwhelming though, isn’t it? And it’s now occurring to my, as it did in my first entry, that I too am now a part of a myriad number of contributors to the World. Wide. Web. Before I leave you I’d like to quote Stephen Vincent Benet, who was also quoted by Neil Postman, whose reading I found on the internet. (Uh-huh). He wrote:

"Say neither, it is blessed nor cursed.
Say only 'It is here.' " [3]

Just as relevant now as it was when it was written 80 years ago.


[1] imdb.com
[2] Franklin, Ursula M.. The Real World of Technology. Toronto: House of Anansi Press Inc., 1999.
[3] Benet, Stephen Vincent. 1928. John Brown's Body. Chicago: Elephant Paperback.