Academia de San Lorenzo Dema-ala Inc.

Tialo, Sto. Cristo, City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan

LESSON #4
Subject: Media and Information Literacy
Name: ________________________________________
Teacher: Mrs. Mary Grace A. Castellon

LEARNING CONTENT: The Evolution of Traditional to New Media

REFERENCE/S: DIWA Senior High School Series
LEARNING TARGET
1.1. Identify traditional media and new media, and their relationships.
1.2. Assess the type of media in the Philippines vis-a’-vis the normative theories of media.
1.3. Editorialize the roles and functions of media in democratic society.

LEARNING CONCEPT
The McLuhan Mantra
Marshall McLuhan, who is famous for the phrase “the medium is the message” and is the
proponent of the media theory on technological determinism, believed that society is driven by
changes in media and communication technology.
“Mobile phone and computer, how did these two gadgets change the way people live their lives
today?”
“The only thing constant and inevitable is change.”

Hot and Cold Media?

Hot media – refer to forms requiring little involvement from the audience and examples include film
and television.
Cool Media – are those with high-level user interactivity, where the experience is more dynamic and
the audience is more involved.
For McLuhan, the three most significant inventions in communication would be the phonetic alphabet,
the printing press, and the telegraph.

FOUR MAIN PERIODS IN THE HISTORY OF COMMUNICATION

1. TRIBAL AGE – hearing was the predominant and most valuable sense of reception.
2. LITERACY AGE – where the sense of sight was dominant.
3. PRINT AGE – which meant mass-producing written text.
4. ELECTRONIC AGE – where everyone in the world is interconnected through media.
5. INFORMATION AGE/DIGITAL AGE – (not covered in McLuhan’s) when the world entered into
a new era of media experience in 21st Century.
6. INFRASTRUCTURE AGE – built-in system which runs digitally or can be controlled using the
internet.
According to Winston (1986), society is in control of technology and the innovations over time
do not dictate how it must adapt and function in relation to these technologies. In other
words, technologies is a product of need and not the other way around. If there is no need for
the technology, or it does not have a practical use, it will perish.

Traditional vs. New Media

Traditional media – specific characteristics that they have and functionalities that they offer. It is
one-directional, limited and specific.
New media – experience is more interactive. Audiences are more involved and are able to send
feedback simultaneously.

Mrs. Mary Grace A. Castellon

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