"Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes” (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967). What would McLuhan think of us now? That is the question that I have been wrestling with since the inception of this issue. Our world does not look like the one that McLuhan imagined. In many ways, I’m not sure he could have … [Read more...] about Are We Living the McLuhan Myth or Reality?
Marshall McLuhan
Bridging Past and Present to Build a Better Future
This issue, A McLuhan Mosaic: Bridging Foundational Thought to Present Urgency and Relevance, reflects the mission of the International Council for Media Literacy—to bridge academia to action. We have to begin by thanking our guest editors, Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus, who worked closely with Andrew McLuhan and Antonio Lopez to shape this issue. As is our practice in … [Read more...] about Bridging Past and Present to Build a Better Future
Marshall McLuhan knew what we were. And what we were in for.
A Letter from Guest Editors, Neil Andersen and Carol Arcus “[The] instantaneous world of electric informational media involves all of us all at once. Ours is a brand new world of all-at-once-ness. The global village is not created by the motor car or even by the airplane. It's created by instant electronic information movement. The global village is at once as wide as … [Read more...] about Marshall McLuhan knew what we were. And what we were in for.
Being an AI in a Marshall McLuhan World
Co-authored by Perplexity Preface There continues to be a long and loud sturm und drang about Generative artificial intelligence. I am responsible for some of it because I helped to create the GenAI Agent Imposter podcast in this issue. One GenAI innovation is the ability to dialogue with users. I have had conversations with a virtual Hamlet, Ophelia, Adolf Hitler, … [Read more...] about Being an AI in a Marshall McLuhan World
The metaphysics of Marshall Mcluhan: Technology, Ethics and Human purpose
Abstract In 1954, Jacques Ellul, a French philosopher, wrote a book called The Technological Society which posited that once new technologies are developed their application becomes almost inevitable. Ellul warned that personal transformation is necessary to retain one’s humanity in the face of technological imperatives. “Technique,” as he called expanding technology, needed … [Read more...] about The metaphysics of Marshall Mcluhan: Technology, Ethics and Human purpose
Contextualizing Marshall McLuhan
Abstract My thesis is that the Canadian Renaissance specialist and media ecology theorist and Catholic convert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980; Ph.D. in English, Cambridge University, 1943) is an analogist. McLuhan himself developed the thesis that the Victorian Jesuit poet and Catholic convert Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is an analogist in his 1944 article “The Analogical … [Read more...] about Contextualizing Marshall McLuhan
Media Literacy in the Ecosystem: After McLuhan
Abstract This essay makes the case for media literacy as an essential element in the health of the communication ecosystem and reappraises McLuhan's contribution for the post-digital media literacy field. In motivating a global media literacy mapping with a theory of change (McDougall, 2025), for this special issue, the essay shows how media literacy makes a difference … [Read more...] about Media Literacy in the Ecosystem: After McLuhan
McLuhan’s Playground
Co-authored by Perplexity AIhttps://www.perplexity.ai Abstract Here, the interplay between human intervention and AI assistance becomes part of the story itself, illustrating how technological tools—no matter how advanced—are never fully autonomous but exist in dialogue with the human creativity that guides them. Keywords Artificial Intelligence, Marshall McLuhan, … [Read more...] about McLuhan’s Playground
Media Literacy Education For Survival In An Algorithmic Age
Abstract Over the last decade, we have entered a new technological epoch characterised by social media platforms, algorithmic curation, and artificial intelligence. Media literacy has become a prerequisite for survival rather than an optional educational enrichment. Drawing on Marshall McLuhan’s foundational insights, this article argues that while McLuhan’s broadcast-era … [Read more...] about Media Literacy Education For Survival In An Algorithmic Age
Wisdom Weavers by Tom Cooper: A Book Review
Abstract This comprehensive review of Tom Cooper’s Wisdom Weavers explores the intellectual "symphony" composed by Cooper to honor the lives, relationships and legacies of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan. It interprets the text through the Association for Media Literacy (AML) lens, evaluating how Cooper humanizes these two Canadian giants while tracing their influences from … [Read more...] about Wisdom Weavers by Tom Cooper: A Book Review
The Parasocial Relationships of Twitch
In September of 2020, Dextero reported how popular Twitch streamer “Sweet Anita” collected the tales of multiple female streamers who found themselves facing “police inaction” at the hands of their stalkers (Glaze 2021). Anita notes how her stalker has gone as far as to move “within four minutes of where she lived” and “followed her to a shop and chased her out into the street, … [Read more...] about The Parasocial Relationships of Twitch
My Introduction to Media Literacy
I first came across media literacy not as an advocate nor as a teacher but as a high school senior in 2017. My junior year of high school coincided with the 2016 Presidential election. Buzzwords like “fake news” and “disinformation” saturated the pixels on my computer screen, and questions about journalistic integrity and objectivity permeated the very ink of the articles I … [Read more...] about My Introduction to Media Literacy
