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My first exposure to Marshall McLuhan came from an entirely unlikely source. In a classic scene from the movie Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are standing in line arguing while a Columbia professor of TV and Media pontificates to his date about how Marshall McLuhan described TV as being a ‘high intensity medium’. Woody gets so fed up that he brings Professor McLuhan out from behind a poster to confront him. McLuhan proceeds to tell Mr. Columbia that he heard what he was saying, he knows nothing of his work and wonders how he ever got to teach a course in anything. If only real life was like that..

Marshall McLuhan was a professor of English Literature, the Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto and a bit of an academic rock star. Always insightful, often irreverent and provocative, Understanding Media, the book he published 60 years ago sought to define the influence of various forms of media on society and culture. He famously coined the phrase ‘The Medium is the Message’ to point out that the form of communication shaped the content and was often more influential than the message itself. He also coined the phrase ‘Global Village’ to highlight how modern electronic forms of communication permitted communities from around the world to function as virtual villages where everyone knew everyone else’s business. He essentially predicted the emergence of the internet and even Artificial Intelligence as a collective consciousness.

How can McLuhan’s insights help us to understand and enhance scientific communication? I will be writing more on this topic in future posts. However one insight he had was to categorize various forms of media as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ based on the degree of immersiveness, audience participation and the requirement for constant interpretation. Thus movies were considered ‘hot’ because of the immersive experience, the high definition of the content and the one way nature of the experience. In contrast, TVs were considered ‘cool’ (not hot like Mr Columbia asserted) because they were (at the time) low definition and required audience engagement in order to fill in the elements of story not displayed through the limited screen.

In Science, common forms of oral communication are the Lecture and the Seminar. In McLuhan’s view, a lecture can be considered ‘hot’ because like movies, the experience is immersive and the communication is one way. Seminars however, are ‘cool’ because they have a smaller audience, are designed to be high in participation and often cover limited content but in depth.

Thus a speaker should prepare for a lecture and a seminar in different ways. For example, it is common in seminars to ask the participants for their opinion on a specific topic. That works if the audience has come prepared by being knowledgeable in the field and/or having reviewed assigned papers or other material. In contrast, asking for opinions in a large lecture hall where the audience is busy taking notes and trying to absorb material for the first time often doesn’t work. In a large audience, it is possible to ask for a show of hands like a straw poll. But even that takes the participants out of their immersive state and can disrupt the flow.

Another McLuhan insight was that new media often use old media as content. Thus movies would adapt novels for their screenplays and television would broadcast movies. In our modern age, the internet and social media are now dominating and we can see the same phenomenon occurring as movies are delivered via streaming.

Consider the TED talk phenomenon. TEDs are highly polished talks originally focused on technology, entertainment and design. Originally founded in 1984 as a technology conference, TEDs have expanded to include scientific, cultural, political, humanitarian and academic topics. While the talks are delivered to a live audience, their true reach is over the internet as on demand videos. Their impact has become enormous. 2.5 Billion views, 180 million followers, more than 1 million educators using TED content in their classrooms. From a McLuhanesque point of view, the TED phenomenon would be a modern example of a new medium absorbing the structure of a classic lecture-like form of communication to create a new experience.

The message from TED? Perhaps it is the notion that complex topics can be conveyed to an engaged audience in an entertaining, 18 minute, mostly oral presentation. If only real life was like THAT..

I would love to hear your take on how McLuhan’s insights can help make scientific communication better. Please like, repost or comment to spread the word. And if you think I can assist you in getting your message out, please contact me directly here or at my LinkedIn site.