Minerva’s
Owl


Harold
Innis
(1894‐1952)

•  A
Canadian
poli>cal
economist

•  A
central
figure
in

communica>ons
theory

From
the
end
of
WWII
un>l
his
death
in

1952,
Innis
worked
steadily
on
an

inves>ga>on
of
the
social
history
of

communica>on,
studying
the

communica>on
media
of
the
last
4000

years.
From
the
thousand
page

manuscript
which
he
leN
at
his
death

came
his
two
pioneering
communica>ons

works:
Empire
and
Communica/ons

(1950),
and
The
Bias
of
Communica/on

(1951).


Harold
Adams
Innis:

The
Bias
of
Communica>ons
&

Monopolies
of
Power


hTp://www.media‐studies.ca/ar>cles/innis.htm

Bias
of
Communica>on


 Innis
believed
that
the
rela>ve
stability
of

cultures
depends
on
the
balance
and

propor>on
of
their
media.

How
do
specific
communica>on

technologies
operate?


What
assump>ons
do
they
take

from
and
contribute
to
society?


What
forms
of
power
do
they

encourage?


A
key
to
social
change
is
found
in
the

development
of
communica>on

media.
Each
medium
embodies
a

bias
in
terms
of
the
organiza>on
and

control
of
informa>on.

Any
empire
or
society
is
generally

concerned
with
dura>on
over
>me
and

extension
in
space.

Time‐biased
media,
such
as

stone
and
clay,
are
durable

and
heavy.
Since
they
are

difficult
to
move,
they
do

not
encourage
territorial

expansion;
however,
since

they
have
a
long
life,
they

do
encourage
the

extension
of
empire
over

>me.


Innis
associated
these
media
with
the

customary,
the
sacred,
and
the
moral.



Time‐biased
media
facilitate
the

development
of
social
hierarchies,
as

archetypally
exemplified
by
ancient
Egypt.



For
Innis,
speech
is
a
>me‐biased
medium.


Space‐biased
media
are
light

and
portable;
they
can
be

transported
over
large

distances.
They
are
associated

with
secular
and
territorial

socie>es;
they
facilitate
the

expansion
of
empire
over

space.
Paper
is
such
a
medium;

it
is
readily
transported,
but

has
a
rela>vely
short
lifespan.


Organiza>on
of
empires

Militaris>c
–
concerned
with
the

conquest
of
space.


Religious
–
concerned
with
the

conquest
of
>me.


Compara>vely,
the
media
that

have
supported
the
military

conquering
of
space
have
been

lighter,
so
that
the
constraints
of

long
distances
could
be
lessened.



Those
media
that
supported

theocra>c
empires
had
rela>ve

durability
as
a
major
characteris>c

so
that
they
could
support
the

concepts
of
eternal
life
and

endless
dynas>es.

Stable
socie>es
were
able
to
achieve
a

balance
between
>me‐
and
space‐biased

communica>ons
media

Change
comes
from
the
margins
of
society,

since
people
on
the
margins
invariably

develop
their
own
media.

The
new
media
allow
those
on
the
periphery

to
develop
and
consolidate
power,
and

ul>mately
to
challenge
the
authority
of
the

centre.

La>n
wriTen
on
parchment,

the
medium
of
the
Chris>an

Church,
was
aTacked
through

the
secular
medium
of

vernaculars
wriTen
on
paper.


The
monopoly
posi>on
of
the

Bible
and
the
La>n
language

in
the
church
was
destroyed

by
the
press
and
in
its
place

there
developed
a
wide‐
spread
market
for
the
Bible
in

the
vernacular
and
a
concern

with
its
literal
interpreta>on.

Oral
communica>on,
speech,
was
considered

by
Innis
to
be
>me‐biased
because
it
requires

the
rela>ve
stability
of
community
for
face‐to‐
face
contact.

Knowledge
passed
down
orally
depends
on
a

lineage
of
transmission,
oNen
associated
with

ancestors,
and
ra>fied
by
human
contact.

Innis
is
forthright
in
his
own
bias
that
the
oral

tradi>on
is
inherently
more
flexible
and

humanis>c
than
the
wriTen
tradi>on,
which

he
found
rigid
and
impersonal
in
contrast.


The
Monopoly
of
Power

Monopoly
–
not
just
a
economic
concept
but

includes
culture
and
poli>cs.

Society
–
network
of
communica>ons
systems


Key
junctures
or
nodal
points
where

significant
informa>on
is
stored,
and
from

where
it
is
transmiTed
to
other
parts
of
the

system.


Individuals
or
groups
who
control
access
to

those
points
wield
great
power


Those
who
monopolize
knowledge
wield

great
power
and
are
also
in
a
posi>on
to

define
what
is
legi>mate
knowledge.


Monopolies
of
knowledge
tend
to
polarize

socie>es
into
a
mass
of
the
ignorant
and
a

knowledge
elite.
Monopolies
of
knowledge

encourage
centraliza>on
of
power.
Those

who
control
knowledge
have
the
power
to

define
reality.

New
media
threaten
to
displace

the
previous
monopolies
of

knowledge

"The
monopoly
of
knowledge

centering
around
stone
and

hieroglyphics
was
exposed
to

compe>>on
from
papyrus
as
a

new
and
more
efficient
medium"


It
is
really
the
"monopolies
of

knowledge"
which
are
at
stake
in

the
longevity
of
empires.



New
media
threaten
to
displace

the
previous
monopolies
of

knowledge,
unless
those
media

can
be
enlisted
in
the
service
of

the
previous
power
structures.


In
our
own
>me,
we
have
witnessed
such

shiNing
monopolies
in
the
delivery
of
news
to

the
masses
from
newspapers
to
radio
to

television
to
the
internet.
Each
medium
has
its

bias,
a
bias
which
changes
in
rela>on
to
the

significance
of
the
others
in
the
consciousness

of
cultures.


Those
cultures
made
powerful
through
their

former
monopolies
of
knowledge
based
on

film,
print,
or
television
become
vulnerable
to

the
aTacks
of
cultures
which
make
use
of
new

communica>ons
technologies.

EZLN
–
the
revolu>onary
Zapa>sta
movement

of
Chiapas,
Mexico
–
uses
its
website
to

counteract
nega>ve
propaganda
from
the

Mexican
and
United
States
governments

which
aTempt
to
distort
the
nature
of
this

populist
revolu>on.


If
we
further
juxtapose
the
bias
of
an
empire

for
a
par>cular
set
of
communica>ons
media,

how
this
bias
affects
our
impressions
of
that

empire,
and
how
our
own
biases
influence
our

observa>ons–then
we
begin
to
approximate

Innis’
method
of
media
analysis.

We
can
further
refine
our
study
of
media
by

focusing
on
the
monopolies
of
knowledge

within
any
empire,
and
the
poten>al
for

marginalized
cultures
to
adopt
new

technologies
in
order
to
gain
some
leverage

against
more
powerful
na>ons.

"Minerva’s
Owl
begins
its
flight
only
in

the
gathering
dusk…”



The
flowering
of
the
culture
comes
before
its
collapse

A
technological
realist


It
would
thus
be
a
mistake
to
consider

Innis
a
technological
determinist:
he

does
not
believe
that
technology

drives
social
evolu>on.


He
does,
however,
appreciate
the

considerable
power
invested
in

communica>ons
technologies
and

monopolies
of
knowledge
to
shape

culture.


The
crea>ve
possibili>es
of

each
new
medium

So
I
clicked
many
>mes

over.
But
again,
nothing

happened.
Then
I
clicked
on

it
like
a
woman
presses
a

bindi
on
to
her
forehead,

and
it
clicked!



Sangeeta

Cybermohalla,
28‐07‐2004

So
I
clicked
many
>mes

over.
But
again,
nothing

happened.
Then
I
clicked
on

it
like
a
woman
presses
a

bindi
on
to
her
forehead,

and
it
clicked!



Sangeeta

Cybermohalla,
28‐07‐2004