Media Ecologies as Meta-Communication

The whole idea of media ecologies or information ecologies gives way to the idea of met-communication within an electronic media context. The notion of the 'global village' where people interact, directly and instantly, through electronic networks creates a new form of communication. Although, when looking at these new forma of human interaction and communication I found a point Neil Postman made to be very interesting. He states, 'The word ecology implies the study of environments: their structure, content, and impact on people' (N Postman, Media Ecology 2013). It is the impact on people that I find to be most interesting. What do these media ecologies do to the fundamental values of human interaction? What will these shifts mean for the future of human interaction or social normalities? These are questions I'd like to set out to possibly answer in my research project, for now, however, I'd like talk briefly about the structure and content side of the study of media ecologies or environments. 

Being immersed in these environments, as are most of the population, it can be, at times, hard to step back and see the bigger picture. For me, this relates to the structure of media ecologies. They are geared as an integral part of human life, a necessity in daily routine. Checking and maintaing Facebook, procrastinating on Youtube or following your favourite celebrity on Twitter have become new ways of communicating yourself to the world through non verbal interaction. It is the structure of meta-communication, a new way of expression which one must be apart of or be left behind. Suddenly, you are a signal identity across a range of online, electronic, communities, which, in essence, would form your own personalised environment or community. To me, at times, it seems that the 'prescribed' content of these ecologies becomes largely irrelevant. We are the content. Through the structuring of these communities we dictate the flow of information on ideologies that form. This can be seen in the ever changing and diversifying world of Meme's. 

What these new societies mean for human interaction is, at the moment, beyond me, though it something I am very interested in exploring. 

Media Ecology, wiki article, 26 March 2013, accessed 7th April 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology>