Part 1 of 1 – Discussion: Time/Space Bias
In the Laughey reading, “Modernity and Medium Theory,” we encounter Harold Innis’s theory of the time/space bias of media. For this discussion assignment, you are asked to:

Review the relevant section of the reading relating to Innis and time/space bias (as well as your notes on my lecture on this subject).
Consider how the theory of time/space bias applies to contemporary communication media, and specifically to the enormous communication capacities that the internet has enabled—from personal communication, to online archives and databases, to social media, to cloud storage.
In a post of 150-200 words, make an argument for how Innis’s theory of time/space bias applies to the internet. Is the internet time biased or space biased? Is the distinction between time/space bias no longer helpful in describing the internet?
If you feel as though these questions have been exhausted by your group members (i.e. you don’t think there is anything left to say about how the internet is time/space biased), then you can also develop your group’s comments further and consider Innis’s claim that time/space bias of the dominant medium in a society influences the way that society is organized and behaves (centralized/introverted, or decentralized/expansionist). Has the capacity of the internet to communicate across time and/or space impacted the way we behave as a society and/or the way we govern ourselves, as Innis’s theory suggests it should? And if so, how?

This is NOT a place for you to present unstructured and meandering thoughts on the internet. Your comments should be clearly grounded in the terms of Innis’s theory.

You will be graded upon how well your comment reflects an understanding of this theory and the thoughtfulness of your attempt to apply time/space bias to the internet.
Attached lecture notes and the Laughey Modernity and Medium Theory readings