> I think after several posts I'm finally getting to what I think is core
> here. "The Media" (social or otherwise) do not exist; they exist only as
> embedded in social relations, and have no existence in abstraction from that
> context. They aren't even relations (mediations), they are tools as I said
> before. But since, even or especially in abstraction, they have not
> independent existence, there is nothing to understand.
In other words, the Medium Plays No Part in the Message. But new media make new audiences and/or new communicators possible, and/or change the rhythm of communication. Surely messages are partly shaped by the intended audience and partly by the rhythm (i.e., how fast exchanges take place)?
Mike Beggs