Journal article
Screens as human and non-human artefacts: Expanding the McLuhans' tetrad
Explorations in media ecology, v 17(1), pp 23-39
01 Mar 2018
Abstract
Following Graham Harman in the charge that Marshall and Eric McLuhan's laws of media are applicable beyond human-made artefacts, this article takes this framework in considering the screen as medium. The screen is a material and virtual principle found in both old and new communication
technologies, as well as in non-human environments (e.g. beaver dams and solar objects). Employing Lucas Introna and Fernando Ilharco's concept of screenness as starting point and common thread, we formulate tetrads of human-made, animal-made and natural screens. Expanding the
tetrad is helpful in exploring human and non-human media ecologies and how they may interrelate. We reveal several resonances across media through the concept of the screen and argue that the proliferation of material surfaces of display occludes deeper histories of media objects as well as
connections between human and non-human ecologies. This wider application strengthens the laws of media as an epistemology for the ecological workings of a medium. Our conclusion points to non-human theory in reconsidering both the tetrad and the kind of hard technological determinism read
into Marshall McLuhan's work more broadly.
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Details
- Title
- Screens as human and non-human artefacts: Expanding the McLuhans' tetrad
- Creators
- Nicholas C. Grodsky - Drexel UniversityJulia M. Hildebrand - Drexel UniversityErnest A. Hakanen - Drexel University, Communication
- Publication Details
- Explorations in media ecology, v 17(1), pp 23-39
- Publisher
- Intellect
- Number of pages
- 17
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Communication
- Other Identifier
- 991021903708404721