Category Archives: Media Theory

“Note to Self”: The Genealogy of Internal Dialog in Educational Material & Practice

Posted on June 30, 2013 by friesenn

An abstract and short paper I’ve been working on as a conference proposal: This presentation provides an overview of the history of the “internal dialog” as a pedagogical form whose variations have played a key role in educational materials and … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Theory, Textbook, The Self | Leave a comment

Wandering Star: The Image of the Constellation in Benjamin, Giedion & McLuhan

Posted on June 2, 2013 by friesenn

Did Walter Benjamin’s powerful metaphor of the “constellation” wind up becoming the titular figure in Marshall McLuhan’s Gutenberg Galaxy? Benjamin and McLuhan actually have something in common besides a shared interest in recent material histories. This commonality is a personal … Continue reading →

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CFP: Special issue of Phenomenology & Practice on "Being Online"

Posted on April 13, 2013 by friesenn

Phenomenology & Practice announces a special issue devoted to the phenomenological description and exploration of the experience of being online in educational or pedagogical contexts. The intent of this special issue is to focus particularly on epistemology of practice, on … Continue reading →

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Special Issue of CJLT on Philosophy & Education

Posted on April 8, 2013 by friesenn

A special issue of the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology / La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie co-edited by Erika Smith and myself, is out. This issue has some great papers, including a short editorial by Andrew Feenberg, an excellent … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Theory, Writing | Leave a comment

Text to Speech (and back again) – Media in Education

Posted on April 8, 2013 by friesenn

This paper explores some readings and questions I’ve been working on for quite awhile. What is the relation of present-day educational media and technologies to the most basic and fundamental media of communication: text and speech? Unlike the forms that … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Media Theory, Writing | Leave a comment

Wandering Star: The Image of the Constellation in Benjamin, Giedion and McLuhan

Posted on December 31, 2012 by friesenn

Just got word that this proposal was accepted for the “14th Jerusalem Conference in Canadian Studies” at the Hebrew University. It focuses on three great writers, and three very unique texts: Walter Benjamin’s notion of the “constellation” marks a particularly … Continue reading →

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Two Ed Tech/Media Traditions: Rationalist vs Romantic

Posted on December 10, 2012 by friesenn

Spoken language is the first and most basic medium, and various forms of writing come next. If this is true, then media have a long history. This is certainly the case for education & for learning speech & writing. I … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Media Theory | Leave a comment

Science (Scholarship) as Open Source Process

Posted on November 16, 2012 by friesenn

This very short piece from the late F. Kittler becomes increasingly relevant.as issues of open scholarship and open education become ever more established. For example: However, it was practical when some programmers at the MIT resisted venality and when a computer … Continue reading →

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CTheory – Jailbreaking the Perfect User Interface

Posted on April 18, 2012 by friesenn

Just published a paper on CTheory.net titled: Doing with Icons makes Symbols; or, Jailbreaking the Perfect User Interface Here’s a sample: “Mediation and technologies of mediation, whether the sign (Vygotsky), the symbol (Piaget), or the mirror or signifier (Lacan), all … Continue reading →

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Dewey's Cosmic Traffic: Politics and Pedagogy as Communication

Posted on April 11, 2012 by friesenn

Dewey’s cosmic traffic [slideshare id=12240322&doc=deweyscosmictraffic-120401024713-phpapp02] View another webinar from Norm Friesen This is a set of slides and audio recording from the Media Transatlantic IV Conference in Paderborn. (Richard Cavell and I hosted Media Transatlantic III at UBC in 2010). … Continue reading →

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