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Comparisons
In 1994 Lapham derived the following pairs from McLuhan’s Understanding Media (Link broken, new link: here – update: 03.07.2009)
As all comparisons do, they seek out to separate and differentiate aiming at better comprehension—especially when put on a table; its logic is more similar to a well rooted tree-like structure rather than to an interconnected mesh of elements in perpetual change.
vs. | Electronic Media | |
visual | tactile | |
mathematical | organic | |
sequence | simultaneity | |
composition | improvisation | |
eye | ear | |
active | reactive | |
expansion | contraction | |
complete | incomplete | |
soliloquy | chorus | |
classification | pattern recognition | |
centre | margin | |
continuous | discontinuous | |
syntax | mosaic | |
self-expression | group therapy | |
Typographic man | Graphic man |