Blog Post #2- Justin Couto
For this weeks blog post I wanted to go back and talk more about Harold Innis. We have talked a lot about Innis so far this semester and particularly his work with the staples thesis. This thesis holds that Canada's culture and political history/economy has been shaped by the exploitation and export of our national "staples" namely fish, timber, and furs, as well as mined minerals and fossil fuels. In the reading titled, ' Empire and Communication' Innis talks about how each staple came to prominence. Cod fisheries were being exploited on the east coast, the Hudson's Bay Company held a firm monopoly over the fur trade, the discovery of gold on the west coast led to rapid increase in settlement and the exhaustion of the mines, and western Canada became concentrated on agricultural products such as wheat (Innis, p. 24). He goes on to say that our intense focus on exporting each of these staples to highly industrialized areas such as Europe and the US led to major changes in Canada's economic and social structure (Innis, p. 24). Canada became so reliant on the export of these staples that our economic structure rose and fell depending on its demand. We know now that Canada has remained a key exporter of wheat and minerals and fossil fuels, mainly oil, why do you think that these staples were able to persist over time but other staples such as timber, fish, and furs were not?
Another one of Innis' theories that I found interesting was his medium thesis. Within this thesis he calls media something that comes between humans and enables or biases their interactions. Next, he says that power and control is comprised of two dimensions: space and time (Babe, 2008, p. 12). He says mediums that emphasize time are durable such as parchment, clay, and stone, while media that emphasize space are less durable and light such as papyrus and paper (Babe, 2008, p. 13). Innis believed that space biased media such as radio were outpacing time biased media such as books and architecture. Do you think that this belief has proven to be true, or has time biased media been able to stay relevant and keep pace with space biased media?
Hi Justin! I loved reading your post. To answer your questions, I am not exactly sure why staples like timber, fish and furs didn't persist over time. If I were to guess, it would be because other developed countries have better quality or more access to these things. With fur trading not being a staple anymore, I think it is simply because that is not the time anymore. I feel people who wear real furs today get more backlash- so people wear fake. I could totally be wrong, so if anyone has actual knowledge of it, I would love to hear your thoughts because I am just guessing :)
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I believe no matter what time and space biases will lose relevance. I think people have resorted to e-books, audiobooks, or podcasts rather than paper books. I think the radio is less common as people use music streams such as apple music or Spotify. There are so many advancements it is hard to keep up and stay relevant. There is always something new and better. Therefore, I wouldn't say one outweighs the other in terms of pace and relevancy. I think they both have mediums that have already lost relevancy, or are on pace to.
Hey Justin, I really enjoyed your post and think you made some really great comments. To answer your question, I currently feel that space bias has done a better job at remaining relevant and prevailing compared to time bias. Due to the web and the internet, things that were once only available to a limited audience are now readily accessible to everyone. Books and oral speeches would be an example. Radio, newspapers, and television are all space-biased media forms and are being reinvented and presented through technology in new and adaptive ways. Today, we watch TV on our devices, read the news on our phones, and listen to music through apps. We can connect with millions of people worldwide through the web, and find answers to anything with the click of a button. Considering digital media and the web, I would assume they fall under the category of space bias. In that sense, I don't feel that time-biased media has been able to keep pace with space-biased media, and that space bias remains more prevalent than time bias in modern society.
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