Emerging Technologies and the McLuhan Tetrad

The current Horizon Report (NMC, 2008) predicts that mainstream educational institutions will commonly utilize several emerging technologies, such as grassroots video, collaboration webs, Data Mashups, and social operating systems to extend learning opportunities.

However, Marshall McLuhan posited the importance of identifying the correspond amputation, which is inherent in every technological extension, by asking the following four questions, which he called the tetrad (Kappelman, 2002):
1. What does it (the medium or technology) extend?
2. What does it make obsolete?
3. What is retrieved?
4. What does the technology revert into if it is over extended?

Grassroots Video (GV)
Clearly, producing GVs, posting them on video sharing websites, such as YouTube, and therefore potentially sharing the work with millions of others will extend the communication capabilities of educators and learners (NMC, 2008).

Low cost, easy to use, and accessible tools, software, and web-based video sharing services will make reliance on “expensive infrastructure” (NMC, 2008), professional video production, and conventional modes of distribution, such as television news broadcasts obsolete.

By generating a two-way flow of information, GV technology will allow people to retrieve the ability to contribute to the knowledge base. For example, many people use cell phone video-capture devices to provide media outlets with material (NMC, 2008).

If over extended, since almost anybody may capture video of anyone at any time (NMC, 2008), and subsequently edit and manipulate the contents, this technology may result in people feeling vulnerable and paranoid due to a real, or perceived, lack of privacy.

Collaboration Webs (CW)
CW, such as 3D virtual environments, extend time and space by allowing disparately located participants to collaborate in real time in ways that would normally be impossible or impractical. For example, they could:
 Explore a piece of equipment, such as the inside of a computer
 Practice hazardous material handling procedures in scripted training simulations

Furthermore, in a 3D CW they may experience a sense of presence and therefore “overcome various communication constraints of time, location permanence, distribution, and distance” (Lombard & Ditton, 1997).

Potentially, this technology may make drawbacks associated with physical travel, such as high cost, inconvenience, and unproductive time, obsolete.

However, while many may retrieve a socially rich mode of communication in this virtual environment, if over extended others may feel intimidated and excluded.

Clearly, the McLuhan tetrad can be a valuable assessment tool for evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of any new technology prior to implementation.




Kappelman, T. (2002). Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message”. Retrieved September 5, 2008, from http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
Lombard, M & Ditton, T. (1997). Presence: at the heart of it all. JCMC (3)2.
New Media Consortium (NMC). (2008). The Horizon Report. Retrieved September 1, 2008, from http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2008/
Virtual Worlds News (VWN). (2007). Appalachian State and Clemson Universities research virtual worlds. Retrieved September 1, 2008, from http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/12/appalachian-sta.html#more