Skip to content
1981
Volume 23, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 1539-7785
  • E-ISSN: 2048-0717

Abstract

There are three origin stories for communication studies in North America: the Public Speaking tradition in the United States, the Mass Communication tradition in the United States, and the Media Ecology tradition rooted in Canadian scholarship. In this Probe, I want to talk about the three traditions, as I understand them. Then, I want to talk about some experiences surveying residents of rural Lake and Cook counties in Northeastern Minnesota about internet access. Those experiences pushed me to rethink the importance of the third, Canadian tradition of communication studies. This third tradition emphasizes the importance of the materiality of communication, and it is the tradition embraced by media ecology, and I think it asks questions that every communication scholar should think about.

© 2024 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/eme_00191_7
2024-04-29
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Gehrke, Pat J. and Keith, William M. (eds) (2015), A Century of Communication Studies: The Unfinished Conversation, New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis Group.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Innis, Harold (1923), A History of the Canadian Pacific Railway, rev. ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Innis, Harold (1930), The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History, rev. ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Innis, Harold (1940), The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy, Toronto: The Ryerson Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Innis, Harold (1950), Empire and Communications, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Innis, Harold (1951), The Bias of Communication, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Robinson, Daniel J. (2004), Communication History in Canada, Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Rogers, Everett M. (1994), A History of Communication Study: A Biographical Approach, Toronto and New York: The Free Press.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/eme_00191_7
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Canadian communication studies; Harold Innis; histories of communication; internet access; research methods; Toronto School

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test