Platforms and Mediums: A Look at Applen and Gillespie

Both scholars J.D. Applen and Tarleton Gillespie in their respective articles– Mcluhan and media’s message and The Politics of ‘Platforms’— explain how a readers ability to process information can be effected by what platform or medium that information is presented on. But before we explore how that retention is effected we have to explore what mediums and platforms are.

Platforms and Mediums

Mediums are the tools/technology where messages are conveyed. Books, television, social media, and even speech are examples of mediums. Some mediums are quicker at spreading messages than others.

Platforms, on hand the other hand, can differ in meaning depending on their context. Gillespie list four different context which the term platform can refer to:

• Computational – Digital areas where information is housed and conveyed. Not too unlike the definition of medium. For example, search engines, social media sites, and operating systems are platforms.
• Architectural – A physical raised surface.
• Figurative – the basis of something
• Political – topics or issues that a politician or political party endorses.

For the purposes of this article the computational definition of platform focused on.

On Critical Thinking

Based on the findings of Marshall Mcluhan, Applen argues that more convenient mediums (like television and computers) can lead to readers not thinking to deeply about the information they are consuming. Readers/users feel less likely to think deeper about the information they consume since it’s presented through a more visual and snappier medium. More ambiguous mediums (like books)– while less convenient and visually stimulating– can leave readers more room to reflect on the information they’re consuming.

So, how do digital platforms tie into this?

Gillespie states that online platforms providers”[…] become the curators of public discourse”. I’d argue that they also become the curators of public information. Google, for example, heavily effects how people find information. What information gets in front of people first isn’t entirely based on how accurate the information is but how relevant or popular it is.

Due to how platforms can curate information it is ever more important that we train ourselves to process the information that we see in more convenient mediums the way we would for more ambiguous ones.