“The medium is the message” – Marshall McLuhan
I was talking to my friend about the board game he’s designing when this quote came up. I had never heard it before, but after doing some digging I realized I’d been behind and this is a pretty famous quote in the world of communication and media studies. Basically, what I have interpreted the quote to mean is that when information is delivered, the creator of that information has intention behind how it was delivered and that medium should be considered with equal importance to the information itself.
The reason I bring it up here is because my friend mentioned it in the context of learning and teaching in non-traditional ways, such as in board games. I also found a great article from Scholarly Kitchen that talks about this quote and the medium of the web/internet/Web 2.0/the participatory web and how abundance of access is the message of that medium (Anderson, 2010). Reflecting on this quote in relation to the infinite learning module materials, I really like the idea of the medium as an intentional message to the receiver of information. In libraries, there are many mediums at our disposal to help serve our communities and provide moments of learning. Some work better than others, and the work is to find what medium will work best for you. This concept of an intentional and functional medium was discussed in the Digital Promise blog post about the Chicago Public Library’s (CPL) CyberNavigators and Digital Learn programs. In the post, the authors head a section with “If You Can’t Find the Right Technology, Help Develop It” (Promise, 2016). To me, this is an instant connection to the idea of the medium is the message. CPL piloted a number of programs for teaching adults digital literacy skills, but ultimately decided that none of them were what their libraries needed. So they worked with developers of existing technology and programs to create a custom system that worked for them (Promise, 2016). They created a medium that shared a message of care for the community and an understanding of the importance of the opportunity of learning skills like digital literacy.
And truly, the library itself is a medium with a message. The library is an alternative to other learning mediums such as YouTube University or traditional tuition and fees based academic learning, because it’s not individual/isolated or behind a paywall, it’s an accessible-to-all medium that delivers the message that we can be connected through learning, teaching, and resource providing. When the library is a classroom, when learning is prioritized for patrons and library staff alike through professional learning experiences, the medium of the library screams the message that infinite learning is possible and can be prioritized within a community.
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