Hot and Cool media

WHAT IS HOT AND COOL MEDIA

Hot media is that which engages one sense completely. It demands little interaction from the user .Its a one way flow of communication where the receiver  receives a message from medium and bound to absorb it.This way the information flows and it all depends upon receiver to which extent he will be influenced  by the message while ,cool media is the media that involves several senses  with the interaction on the part of audience.

Cool media fosters involvement  of audience their particular reaction towards the message they received.

 

McLuhan said in Understanding Media, the Extension of Man, hot media do not leave so much to be filled in or completed by the audience and need low participation, while cool media are high in participation or completion by the audience. For example, radio is a kind of hot media because people don’t need to participate in radio and they just need auditory sense. Telephone is a kind of cool media because people need to speak and respond when using the telephone and that can be considered high participation. This is basically a distinction made by McLuhan between media such as print, photographs, radio, and movies (hot media) and media such as speech, cartoons, the telephone, and television (cool media). Hot media are ‘high definition’ because they are rich in sensory data. Cool media are ‘low definition’ because they provide less sensory data and consequently demand more participation or ‘completion’ by the audience (a useful mnemonic is to imagine that hot media are too hot to touch).

 

Note that McLuhan was not referring to the issue of the relative cognitive effort involved in the use of different media. Arguably, in McLuhan's terms, television has grown hotter since the 1960s as its technical picture quality has improved, so these terms are relative.

 

 Critics of McLuhan's concept have argued that it reifies the medium, underestimating differences within the same medium; the degree of audience engagement does not depend primarily on the medium itself (although its affordances may play a part), but on its content and the ways in which the medium is used on specific occasions within specific contexts.

 

 

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF HOT MEDIA

1:abundant information

2:more information

3:high resolution

4:low participation

5:spoon feeding in nature

CHARACTERISTICS OF COOL MEDIA

1:Limited rare information

2:stimulates several senses

3:high participation

 

HOT MEDIA VS COOL MEDIA

Hot media usually, but not always, provides complete involvement without considerable stimulus. For example, print occupies visual space, uses visual senses, but can immerse its reader. Hot media favor analytical precision, quantitative analysis and sequential ordering, as they are usually sequential, linear and logical. They emphasize one sense (for example, of sight or sound) over the others. For this reason, hot media also include radio, as well as film, the lecture and photography.

Cool media, on the other hand, are usually, but not always, those that provide little involvement with substantial stimulus. They require more active participation on the part of the user, including the perception of abstract patterning and simultaneous comprehension of all parts. Therefore, according to McLuhan cool media includes television, as well as seminars and cartoons. McLuhan describes the term "cool media" as emerging from jazz and popular music and, in this context, is used to mean "detached."

Mcluhan believes that hot media encourage people to be passive. Somehow he was right in saying as hot media doesn’t include the audience reaction for instance if there is picture posted in a newspaper and it offends a reader that particular news paper editor cant get his reaction whether he torn that paper into pieces or how much he was offended by it but if the same picture is posted on any cool medium like facebook or any social media   then definitely he can post his reaction through comment or anything.

PERSONAL OPINION

Mcluhan classified media decades ago so his interpretations needs to be judged and examined again in this era as world is turning into a global village. His other theory seem more authentic in today s perspectives  MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE with the passage of time we are becoming more and more dependant of technology.There was a time where we only pass messages through letters then voice calls but not we are not only using video call facility to share the message but also we are able to use the virtual reality. So whatever is the message we are sharing to the massed highly dependant on the medium or mean we use. We cant share any virtual message to the people who don’t use latest technologies it doenst matter message is important or not. As far as hot and cool media mcluhan included tv in hot media category but we all know all the tv channels are using different social media platforms and live calls session so that they got reactions of audience frequently and through trps they are totally aware of people perceptions about the content either they are liking it or not similarly so called cool media for example if we consider the social media a cool media then it has to be hot as well as every social media can be controlled.  Media / news agencies /individual accounts not only counter the matrix through different legal and illegal means moreover they control the audience reactions through barring them from commenting the only thing you could do on socalled cool media but if we consider social media as a hot media then it doesn go with mcluhan definition of hot media as its not possible fully to control the flow of communication on social media so we can say there should be another category to define media the cozy media that includes both the characteristics of hot and co

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