Filtering the Message

By
Kurt Hargis
Dr. Nan Adams

If one needs to fix something in their house, they call a repairman. However, the
question becomes what repairman. A carpenter, a plumber, and electrician all are
repairmen that carry different tools in their toolboxes. They key is filtering the
decision on the right repairmen who has the right tools. The same concept applies to
technology in education. The amount of tools to use in today's technological world is
overwhelming. In fact, we are so caught up in what Marshall McLuhan describes as the
medium itself that is the message that we do not dig deeper into understanding what
that message is in order to use it (Playboy, 1969). Again, to maximize the use of
technology in a classroom, both the teacher and the student needs to learn how to filter
which tool fits the job. McLuhan recognized, before it even existed, that media such as
the Internet would be all encompassing. The depth would increase our need for
human autonomy (McLuhan M. , 1965). In other words, it is the people who are
responsible for controlling the medium and not being controlled by it. In other words,
we have to filter through to find what we need to solve the problem that we need
solving. This fits in with the commonly accepted concept of reaching all learning
styles. When one understands how to filter correctly, technology can be controlled.
Just like the book and television before it, the Internet has transformed how we
learn and think. Information is a second away. Information that we had to memorize,
such as telephone numbers, is just a button click away. More complex concepts, like
physics formulas, are also a button push away. McLuhan describes how the
information explosion will destroy the barriers between people and education or
business (McLuhan M. , Information explosition as culture, 1968). This can be seen
with people day trading from home or access iTunes U to take free courses from MIT.

The question then becomes how do we teach such information. Are students to be
expected to learn information from rote memory when their time learning could be
spent on understanding the how and why of the information they are learning? Does
remembering the variables in the formula have anything to do with understanding the
formula? If a person can access the formula at will and be taught the deeper meaning
of the formula, we should always strive for the deeper learning. This requires filtering.
We have to filter what can be gathered quickly from the Internet and teach students
how to learn deeply from the information. By learning this way, children could
accelerate the pace and expand the depth at which they learn. In addition,
communication plays a vital role in ways never imagined in such long ago times as the
1980s. Then, if a teacher asked a question, the only people to answer it were the ones
in a classroom. Now, through tools such as chat rooms to videoconferencing, the
classroom itself might be all over the world.
However, there has to be a caveat. Students have to be taught what is not to be
used. The Onion regularly fools readers into thinking a fake news story is real. People
are often willing to accept what they read. Very few filter what they read. Sometimes
people often filter too much as well. McLuhan says, its the environment that changes
the people, not the technology (McLuhan M. , The medium is the message, 1974).
People have a tough time understanding the change. People are used to people of
authority, such as the writers of Encyclopedia Britannica, in giving us the information. It
is hard to accept the democratic nature of Wikipedia. Wikipedia tends to be the victim too
often in education. If one were to look up HTML5 in both Wordbook and Wikipedia,
one would find that the Wikipedia article has much more information written at higher

level of technical writing than Wordbook*. Yet, most teachers persist that Wikipedia
should not be used because anyone can write the article. Well, that defense is worthless
because anyone can write and publish a book in today's world as well. The environment
has changed and self-publishing, especially in e-book form, is a much simpler process
than it was 25 years ago. Again, filtering is the key. A good Wikipedia article is similar
to a good research paper in a graduate level class in that it will be well documented. A
good research paper cites sources and contains a bibliography. A good Wikipedia article
will do the same. If teachers would teach this process to students, students would learn
not only to filter their readings in Wikipedia but also on other web pages and in books.
They would ask, "Where is the source of this information?" and "Can I trust this
source?" Filtering would give them control over technology (and it this case it can be
book, television, or the internet) in order to wield it in such a way that the technology
would become a tool for their own learning goals. In the case of Wikipedia, a student
should not cite the article for their research, since a Wikipedia article is a research paper,
but they should be taught how to use the sources in a Wikipedia article. In other words,
the student would have filtered the information to use the Wikipedia article as a very
specifically knowledgeable librarian. They have used filtering to turn technology into a
tool.
While filtering is important in the world of television and books, the Internet has put
it front and center. The Internet is, according to McLuhan, both hot and cold. One can
watch television or read a book. One can play video games or listen to any piece of music
they choose. The Internet is the modern library of all other forms of media man has

I did this experiment recently with my school Librarian in here attempts to have me use World book because the district pays
for it. Not only did Wikipedia have more information, WorldBook rerouted me to the plain HTML entry.
*

developed. With so many choices, how does one choose? The goal of technological
education has to be to teach students how to filter the world of the Internet to better
themselves. This does not mean people should not look up videos of cats having Jedi
light saber duels, because entertainment is important. It means teaching them how to
filter the tools they will need to put in their toolbox to solve problems whether it is math
homework, reading assignments, or fixing a kitchen sink. When they understand how to
filter all the billions of billions of bytes of information that exists in the world today, they
will make technology a tool. This will make them the masters of technology and not
slaves to it.

Works Cited
McLuhan, M. (1968). Information explosition as culture. Retrieved July 2014, from
Marshall McLuhan Speaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/electric-age/1968information-explosion-as-culture.php
McLuhan, M. (1974). The medium is the message. Retrieved July 2014, from Marshall
McLuhan Speaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/sayings/1974-the-mediumis-the-message.php
McLuhan, M. (1965). Vision of the Future. Retrieved July 2014, from Marshall McLuhan
Speaks: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/prophecies/1965-vision-of-thefuture.php
Playboy Magazine. (1994). Marshal McLuhan Interview from Playboy, 1969. (P.
Rogaway, Editor) Retrieved 2014, from UCDavis Computer Science:
http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring07/mcluhan.pdf