M.E. Monday #6

Today's a little late (and not quite Monday) M.E. Monday comes from James Carey....perhaps not seen as an official Media Ecologist....but his contribution to the field of communication and its overflow into media ecology is worth noting:

"...one can draw a definition of communication of disarming simplicity, yet, I think, of some intellectual power and scope: communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed" (Communication as Culture 1989).

An essential part of Carey's scope when if comes to understanding communication is understanding its integral role within the framework of reality. From this perspective it becomes clear that such a view incoroprates not only what it is that is communicated (what is often isolated as the message) but also the medium (even in the medium of symbols) in the production, maintenance, repair and transformation of reality. So communication, in message and medium,is part of the ecological building blocks the reality in which we exist.

As participants in that reality, it is only as we participate in the rituals of communication that are established, that we too can give shape to the reality in which we exist. Which is why, as we shift from a print dominated culture to a device/digital dominated culture, there is the need for the new communication rituals to be embraced by those hoping to continue to shape reality.