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Document Type
Book Chapter
Department/Program
American Studies
Publication Date
10-18-2017
Book Title
The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Editor
Michael J. MacDonald
City
New York, NY
Edition
1
First Page
759
Last Page
771
Abstract
Critics of computational media can often be seen as being allied with one of two genealogies, that of Marshall McLuhan or that of Friedrich Kittler. McLuhan famously declared that "the medium is the message" (1964: 7) and expanded the range of cultural messages worth celebrating to include media that might seem to resist interpretation, such as lighting and clothing. McLuhan also distinguished between "hot" media, such as film, which supposedly provide an audience experience of deep immersion through sequential, linear, and logical arrangements, and "cool" media, such as comics, which require perception of abstract patterning and a simultaneous decoding of all parts. Like Vannevar Bush, who viewed the computer largely as a storage and retrieval device, McLuhan saw the computer as a "research and communication instrument" 1995: 295) and compared it to print genres like the encyclopedia or print storage systems like the library.
ISBN
978-0199731596
Publication Statement
This chapter is reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-rhetorical-studies-9780199731596?cc=us&lang=en&.
Recommended Citation
Bogost, I., & Losh, E. M. (2017). Rhetoric and Digital Media. Michael J. MacDonald (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies (pp. 759-771). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbookchapters/6
