The "Bias of Communication" in Ubiquitous Era and Its Civilization Characteristics

LI Qin

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5) : 6-22.

Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2015, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5) : 6-22.

The "Bias of Communication" in Ubiquitous Era and Its Civilization Characteristics

  • Dr. Li Qin is an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University of China, and a research professorship at the Research Center of Journalism and Social Development of China. Email: qli20@yahoo.com.
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Abstract

In his communication classic "The Bias of Communication", Harold Innis propounded that all media and communication have bias, either rely on time or rely on space , and the advantages of each new media wouldgeneratea new civilization.Comparing with all previous media and communication methods, the media and communication in the Internet era had gone through revolutionary changes, both in time and in space, especially in the ubiquitous era. The communication paradigm of the ubiquitous era is immersive communication, which achieves the ever-present, ubiquitous, omnipotent communication.Comparing with the old media, immersive communication’s two dimensions of time and space are much more balanced. Now comes a new question:Does the communication in ubiquitous era still have the "bias of communication"? If the answer is “no”, is"the bias of communication" outdatedas a theoretical tool?If the answer is“yes”, what is the bias of the Internet civilization? This study criticizes the limitationof the"bias of communication" as a research tool, tries to propose that human being himself is the bias of immersive communication, and then deduces the basic characteristics of ubiquitous civilization.

Key words

the bias of communication / Innis / immersive communication / time and space / internetcivilization

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LI Qin. The "Bias of Communication" in Ubiquitous Era and Its Civilization Characteristics[J]. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2015, 37(5): 6-22

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