TRABAJO PRCTICO N 4 TEXTO: LOGAN, ROBERT K. Centralization versus decentralization. The Axiomatics of Innis and McLuhan.

McLuhan Studies, Explorations in Culture and Communication, Volume I, 1991, pp. 91-93. 1- Qu tipo de centralizacin analizan Innis y McLuhan? A qu se la atribuyen? 2- Interprete la primera cita del prrafo 1. 3- Descubra el referente de lo subrayado en el primer prrafo. 4- Desarrolle las comparaciones y ejemplos presentados en el texto para abordar la centralizacin de la organizacin industrial y la descentralizacin originada por la electricidad. 5- Descubra el referente de lo subrayado en el tercer prrafo. 6- Explique las perspectivas de Innis y de McLuhan en lo que respecta a la radio. 7- Desarrolle las razones por las cuales se afirma que la crtica de McLuhan sera vlida slo al largo plazo. 8- En el quinto prrafo se ponen en contraste las diferentes perspectivas de Innis y McLuhan en torno al tema de la centralizacin. Cul es el conector empleado para plantearlas? Explique las ideas vinculadas por el mismo. 9- Cules son los ejemplos usados para demostrarlas? Desarrllelos. 10- Identifique los ncleos temticos del texto y elabore un resumen del texto de no ms de 300 palabras.

Centralization versus decentralization

1 Innis and McLuhan attributed the centralization of political, economic and social systems which characterized the literate age to the fragmentation created by the alphabet and then later by the mechanical forms of industrialization that the printing press inspired. Political organizations determined to an important extent by the limitations of armed force and characterized by centralized power emphasized the capital and left their impression on cultural activityThey provided a shelter for the development of communication facilitiesCommunication was subordinated to the demands of centralized power in religion and in political organization; it was characterized by the use of the eye rather than the ear. The scribe occupied a strategic position in centralized bureaucracies (Bias 135). The pattern Innis described for literate society before the printing press applied with even greater force to print-dominated cultures particularly once the Industrial Revolution had

commenced. The centralized patterns of organization which characterize political and religious institutions extended during the Industrial Age to forms of work, particularly in manufacturing and distribution. This centralization reverses with electricity: Electricity does not centralize but decentralizes. It is like the difference between a railway system and an electric grid: the one requires railheads, and big urban centres. Electric power equally available in the farmhouse and the Executive Suite permits any place to be a center, and does not require large aggregations (UM 36). Electric information provides instant data access equally to all members of the organization regardless of the hierarchical positions. For the external action of an organization this fact of instant information spells total decentralization (McLuhan, Media and the Inflation Crowd 67). 2 Industrial organization requires collecting workers and supplies at centralized locations for manufacturing and distributing material goods. In electrically-configured society, activity shifts from manufacturing material goods to processing information, which is a decentralized activity. The mode of organization is like that of the electric circuit: no point along a circuit (or a circle) may be regarded as the center of the circuit; each point is as central and essential as the next. The telephone, for example, places us at the centre of a worldwide network of information. Computers linked by telephone lines permit access to vast stores of knowledge from any point on earth. The microelectronic revolution which has greatly reduced the cost of electronic equipment and increased its portability through miniaturization enhances this trend toward decentralization. There is little point in going to a centralized office to use information equipment that one can operate just as easily at home. One can network with others by telephone as easily from home as from the office. 3 Innis did not share McLuhans notion that electricity decentralizes communication and other socio-economic patterns. This divergence of views represents perhaps the most serious dichotomy between them. Innis saw radio as a force which promotes centralization. The radio appealed to vast areas, overcame the division between classes in its escape from literacy, and favoured centralized bureaucracy (Bias 82). McLuhan disagreed with this assessment of radio. A good example of this technological blindness (i.e., blindness to the effects of ones most significant forms of invention) in Innis himself was his mistake in regarding radio and electric technology as a further extension of the patterns of mechanical technology (xii). 4 Is McLuhans critique of Innis fair? In terms of the present operation of radio and TV McLuhans criticism is not really valid because these media operate primarily in the broadcast mode. The centralized operation of radio and TV has been dictated by the economics of a limited number of channels. The emergence of fibre optics, communication satellites, pay TV, video text and other interactive systems will vastly increase the number of channels and hence the services available. This will eventually lead to the decentralization of radio and television operations. The regulatory agencies (CRTC in Canada and FCC in the USA) are already experiencing difficulties in regulating this once highly centralized industry because of the vast proliferation of new communication channels. The McLuhan critique of Innis is therefore valid in the long term because the

present centralized broadcast mode of radio and television will not dominate these media forever. 5 The conflict between Innis and McLuhan over the issue of centralization is due to a difference in emphasis. Innis focussed more on the hardware aspects of electronic communication (which is, or has been, centralized), whereas McLuhan was more concerned with the software or information flow which is decentralized. Let us consider the telephone system as an example. The hardware consists of the telephones, the wires connecting them and the central switching stations. The software or information the system carries is provided by those who use the system to communicate with each other. The hardware may be centralized as was dramatically demonstrated by General Jaruzelsky when he pulled the plug on the telephone system during the suppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland in December, 1981. The information flow on the telephone system (when it is operating) is, on the other hand, decentralized. A phone call can be initiated from any point in the system. 6 A similar centralization of the hardware and a decentralization of information pertain to a computer network in which there is a central computer and an information bank. A network of personalized microcomputers, on the other hand, is totally decentralized. The evolutionary effect of microcomputers in education was due to their decentralized grass roots use. Centralized main frame computers in use at least ten years before the introduction of micros had very little effect on education.