Category Archives: Uncategorized

Expression of the Hands (Ausdruck der Hände)

In this 1997 documentary, director and narrator Harun Farocki offers what might be called a phenomenology of the hand in cinema. The phenomenon in question, of course, is the expressive power and possibilities of the hands in film. In this … Continue reading

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McLuhan’s 1960 Report on Project in Understanding New Media

This two-volume text was commissioned by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. In the opening paragraph, McLuhan refers to it as “Project 69,” and memorably explains its purpose as follows: Project 69 in Understanding Media proposed to provide an approach to … Continue reading

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New Doc. Course: Phenomenological Research & Writing

Here’s the description: What is the experience of a conversation via Skype or Facetime? What are the experiences of absence or divided attention that technologies of “presence” bring to our everyday lives? The purpose of this course is to give … Continue reading

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Visiting Prof @ UBC Vancouver

I’ve taken up an appointment as a Visiting Professor at UBC for the 2014-2015 academic year. (I’ll still be available at my Boise State email.) At the same time, I’ve transferred some domain names (e.g. phandpr.org, learningspaces.org, normfriesen.info) to new … Continue reading

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Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors

Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors from Ben Mendelsohn on Vimeo. A short documentary, sounding almost like a commentary and update on Innis’ Empire & Communications: It reminds us that the Internet is very much a physical infrastructure, with one … Continue reading

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Jesus, Computers and Communication

Many important characteristics and tensions in computational and other conceptions of communication find remarkable resonance in the words of the Jewish carpenter from Galilee. For example, Claude Shannon, the inventor of information theory and a proponent of digital computation (i.e. … Continue reading

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Marshall McLuhan's Education of the Senses: Slideshare & Paper

[slideshare id=2193935&doc=mcluhan-senses-091011185905-phpapp01] McLuhan & the Education of the Senses View more presentations from Norm Friesen. Check out this slideshare for a presentation I recently gave at the annual conference of the German Society for Media Studies. You can also download … Continue reading

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