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This is a video of Marshall Mcluhan discussing how the medium is the message in 1977. It's interesting to both see him and hear his voice while he talks about his opinions we've already discussed in his book.

The McLuhan understanding of technology as an extension of ourselves immediately came to mind when I saw the first image here. Also, if this thing had camera capabilities (the ability to Skype, say) we could reasonably apply ideas of autoamputation.

Interesting in terms of McLuhan and discussions last class.

So this isn't directly related to computer technology, but the review is reminiscent of McLuhan and how the medium is the message. The quality and style of the actual film seems to be on par with the ground breaking trilogy that precede it, but the look of the movie on screen is having some negative effects on viewers' reactions. With the move towards HD and now 3-D, it seems higher resolution doesn't always guarantee a better viewing experience.

Really fascinating take on McLuhan and many of the other writers we've been discussing. It also pertains to my interest in both sustainability and digital media.

Consider Mcluhan's concept that electronic media creates a construct of the human nervous system. Here you'll see it in its literal form as the mapped out Internet.

McLuhan and Bogart would probably enjoy this article because it involves procedural rhetoric. It examines how "gamification strategies"--using games to change behavior in real life--can promote energy efficiency. Companies like SimpleEnergy are creating apps that let users track their energy usage, find ways to improve, and compete with friends and neighbors for spots on a leaderboard. Gamification succeeds because apparently social pressure can motivate people even more than monetary incentives, and these initiatives combine both types of incentives: An energy usage competition at the University of Hawaii led to some dorms cutting energy usage by up to 20 percent. This specific method also allows users to save money and conserve energy without "radical infrastructure changes" or the corruption and waste that often results from government subsidies to politically-connected "green" companies like Solyndra and possibly Sapphire Energy. In addition, the apps provide large-scale energy usage data that researchers can use to measure both change over time and the impact of energy usage on other variables.