Marshall McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan was born July 21st, 1911 and died on December 31st, 1980. He was a Canadian educator, philosopher and scholar. He was a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician and a communication theorist. Marshall McLuhan is known for his literature The Medium is the Massage and the global village; where he describes the key points of change in how man has viewed the world and how these views were changed by the adoption of new media. His work is viewed as a building block to understanding the study of media theory. He played a major role in media discourse from the late 1960s until his death, however, he continues to be an influential and controversial figure in media. After his death he was named the patron saint of wired magazine demonstrating how important he was to the study of media. McLuhan's insight was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself.