I’ve been, and will continue to be tied up with some personal family stuff. But in the meantime, my friend Katherine Dee has released a new piece by me, the second in a series trying to dig beneath the surface and open new avenues to talking about and analyzing the flame-war that never died: 2014’s #GamerGate, which many believe permanently altered the terrain of social media and ushered in our perpetual meme-war. All the noise and surface issues, I think, obscure what the really important messages underlying the spectacle. It can’t be said enough: the media themselves were the real message here.

Part One: “Gaming is Leaving Gamers Behind”
Part Two: Gamers vs. Academics…

On the tail of Ezra Klein’s NYT mini-McLuhan media-blitz last month, I wrote a piece that got some currency, including the attention of author and Professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at SUNY, Douglas Rushkoff.

His book Survival of the Richest has just been released (it’s very good!) and yet somehow, amidst all that hubub, Prof. Rushkoff had the time and inclination to host me for an hour on his Team Human podcast. I’m humbled and gratified to share it here today—thanks, Doug!

Click Here to Listen!…

Another post I’ve written exclusively for Default Friend‘s excellent Substack.

Last article, I insisted that nearly everyone who popularizes McLuhan mangles him and his message. Why? If you want to think of causality in the sequential terms of linear cause-and-effect, then there are many causes. (Of course, when you read Laws of Media and Media and Formal Cause, you learn that cause-and-effect account for only a fourth of what causality is… but that formality would be a huge digression at this point.)

So, ahem….

🫴Click here to read more over on her Substack!👈…

My friend Katherine Dee has asked me to write regularly for her Substack blog, and I’m thrilled to accept! She’s been covering the internet history beat for a while now with wonderful research and gathering lots of momentum. Here’s my first piece.

Ezra Klein—founding editor of Vox, contributor to the New York Times, and, where I knew him best, former MSNBC pundit—has made two distinct moves aiming to launch Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) back into the public conversation. I was nine-hundred words into a written analysis of these last night when this little gem of a tweet popped up on my timeline….

🫴Click here to read more on her Substack!👈 …

That was a lot of fun! Here’s my presentation to the Free Software Foundation at this year’s LibrePlanet conference. The audio, it seems, was being picked up by the wrong microphone, so I’ve plans to re-work and expand the topic in a series of videos, having benefited from a lot of helpful feedback and criticism. So keep your eye on this space, follow me on Twitter or YouTube, and buckle up for a content-ful 2022! 😀…

A4:20 Eastern (😏) I’ll be giving a talk about media ecology and McLuhan to the great group of folks at Libreplanet 2022, the annual convention organized by the Free Software Foundation! You can find my talk streaming in the Neptune Room (the third video tab). Come check it out!

Viewers interested in learning more about Media Ecology can visit:
The McLuhan Institute (run by Andrew McLuhan): https://themcluhaninstitute.com/
New Explorations Journal (academic journal): https://newexplorations.net/
The Media Ecology Association (annual conventions): https://www.media-ecology.org/
The McLuhan Foundation (educational resources): https://mcluhanfoundation.org/

Conversely, read more about free software at https://fsf.org!

In my talk, I am suggesting Free Software users and Media Ecologists alike delve into the rich past of computing, and uncover the “anonymous history” of our digital world. Here are three highly-recommended books, each available free online courtesy of their authors:

Those unfamiliar with …