medium
media, mcluhan predicted, imply deep changes in society, human behaviour and thought. invented by man, media in turn infiltrate human society thoroughly and fundamentally change culture. according to mcluhan, a new medium must be analyzed carefully to be aware of the change it will bring to society.
with the emergence of electronic media, a new character is beginning to alter structures in to an extent that can only be guessed of at the moment. a new attention towards the character of electronic media tries to capture its logic. libraries are closely connected to media, so a new form of library must be concerned with the characteristics of the electronic medium. as unknown as its effects, its description remains somehow nebulous: simultaneous, non-linear, uncertain, immaterial, ephemeral, anachic, adaptable, instantaneous, networked, fluid in character...
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message
subjected to the influence of the medium and its characteristics, woven into the fabric of its carrier. if the nature of writing is undergoing a fundamental change, triggered by new media and thinking, and derrida's prophecies are true, the hierarchy and linearity of thought, speech and writing will collapse, will go simultaneous. alphabetic writing will change into other forms of coding and transmission. hints are given to the nature of this future by careful study of the electronic medium and its inherent characteristics.
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