| Since the last 50's,the media research scholars led by Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan have been devoted to exploring the emergence and development of media technology,the characteristics and applications of various media,as well as the relationship between media development and human society.As a result,media ecology was born and becomes the representative of media studies field.Media ecology has a profound theoretical background,emphasized the study of the important role of people in the media,and focused on how to study the relationship between people and media.Most scholars of this school hold the "media determinism" that the media imposed an inevitable and irresistible influence on society.Some even hold a pessimism attitude to media for the media will cover the eyes of mankind to discover the truth of the real world.As a successor and a new pioneer of Media Ecology School,Paul Levinson is different from his Predecessors.His media theory holds high the banner of "optimistic" and "humanity",and writes a joy carol for the media of digital age.He is full of optimism to the human nature,and claims "human decide the development of media".His optimism reflected not only in his new interpretation of Marshall McLuhan,but also in his original theories in understanding the new media.His significance is providing a new perspective to understanding the media technology of digital age,and better examines the law of media development.This article mainly from three parts to introduce and analyze Paul Levinson's media thoughts,including his development of McLuhan's theory(chapter1-3),his original theoretical propositions(chapter4-6),such as anthropotropic theory,remedial medium and his three phases of evolutionary epistemology.It also explores the theoretical sources and practical background of Levinson's media thoughts.The last part of this article(chapter7) tries to analyze and forecast the direction of development of contemporary media within Levinson's theories. |
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