McLuhan

How might we design The Children’s Own Media Museum that is mobile and interactive? How can we make it possible for children to curate the collection?

The objective of the Museum is to build on Marshall McLuhan’s ideas and his understanding of media effects to provide a venue where children can learn to use digital media creatively, productively, mindfully and safely — while honouring McLuhan’s legacy. We’ll help children achieve balance in their lives between screen-based activities and other activities such as reading, art, music, learning, outdoor play and exercise. The museum will not be a collection of inanimate objects to gaze at, but rather a place where children interact directly with media and curate their own exhibits. It will also be a place for research and learning about the best ways digital media can be used by children aged 3 to 17, to better understand the social and cognitive impact of digital media on children and their families. Initially the museum will be housed in a mobile, 18 wheeler trailer that visits schools and community centres throughout Ontario, eventually leading to the establishment of a permanent home, available to children throughout Ontario. 

About the Presenters:

Debora Rubin
Digital Media Zone
Ryerson University
http://connect.pingpongstory.com/

Jamie Alexander
Digital Media Zone
Ryerson University
www.moonrider.com

Teresa Sing and Sylvia Kwan
CAGIS (Canadian Association for Girls in Science)
http://publish.uwo.ca/~cagis

Beth Coleman
Kids Robot Lab in the Games Institute
Waterloo University
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Games-Institute/135274823192667

Ramy Ghattas
Director Logics Academy
www.logicsacademy.com

Che Marville and Bob Logan
Children’s Own Media Museum 
www.childrensownmuseum.ca

The Children’s Own Media Museum was inspired by Marshall McLuhan. We have mixed the old and new, with the plan to create an interactive, mobile and dynamic environment that combines the prescient ideas of Canadian icon Marshall McLuhan with the science of early childhood development, creative thinking and digital technology. Learn more about the mission and why they are inspired by Marshall McLuhan by going to www.childrensownmuseum.ca and www.marshalmcluhan.com.

How is it possible that McLuhan’s description of the electronic mass media and computers of the 1960s and 70s seemed to accurately describe today’s digital media?

He developed techniques for peering into the future by realizing that today’s effects are tomorrow’s causes. McLuhan was an artist, the kind of person who invents the means to bridge between inheritance and the new possibilities created by technological innovation. New technologies are commonly cast in the mold of the past. By carefully observing his contemporary scene together with its basis in the past, McLuhan was able to see into the future and describe our world. Join us for a panel presentation and discussion of this and many related ideas, with Malcolm Dean, Rodrigo Barba, Paolo Granata, and Bob Logan acting as moderator.

About the Presenters:

Malcolm Dean is Research Affiliate at UCLA Human Complex Systems and Higher Cognitive Affinity Group at Brain Research Institute — Los Angeles, California. He will talk about information technology design and McLuhan. Given Malcolm's interest in information–based cosmology, quantum information, Baysian statistics, and cognitive science there are sure to be some some surprises.

Rodrigo Barba is a graduate student at UnB (Universidade de Brasililia) and blog author http://www.ecoblogs.org/author/rodrigo-barba/. Rodrigo Barba, 27, is a doctoral candidate in communication, a web developer, enthusiastic worshiper of board games and interested in activism, advertising, design, architecture, green design, communication and web development.

Paolo Granata from the University of Bologna, plans to start from the connection between McLuhan and pop art. He will use the McLuhan cloud as a intellectual environment. [see prezi.com/puj5zalf0krk/mcluhan-cloud/ where Granata connects McLuhan to a number of writers, artists and scientists]. Furthermore, he is mastering the topic of magic in McLuhan that is directly related with advertisement and design, in an anthropological point-of-view, by the concept of fetish.

Robert K. Logan, Chief Scientist of the sLab, Prof. Emeritus Physics, U. of Toronto and former McLuhan collaborator will focus on McLuhan and foresight.