Not What, But How: When mediums obfuscate messages

Critical thinking is fundamental. As an educational resource, its complexity successfully condenses vast notions into manageable formats, and through its comprehension, we can revolutionise how we think. Yet it is often enshrined in academic language: a medium which encodes its message in semantics. 

In this Journal article, we will take a slightly different approach to our previous posts. Instead of focusing on the messages we communicate, we will take a look into their mediums of communication. The inspiration behind this comes from Food Cosmogonies graduate Elvia Vasconcelos, whose practice in sketchnoting reconstitutes the ways we understand academia. 

Sketchnote of Food Cosmogonies by Elvia Vasconcelos

To navigate the complexities of this subject, I am leaning on communication theorist Marshall McLuhan’s famous adage “the medium is the message.” Coined in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), McLuhan’s notion is relevant to this article for it neatly separates the message: what is being communicated; from the medium: how it is communicated.

Within this article’s context, academic language—the medium—acts as a conduit for critical thinking—the message. I would like to emphasise that this article is not critiquing the efficacy of the message; but rather questioning the general accessibility of its medium. From this, I will examine how we might subvert these academic norms, and suggest alternate mediums to communicate our messages. But first: what is information? 

Information is everywhere. From senses to perceptions; all which we interpret is a form of information. It moulds us: to inform—from the Latin in- ‘into;’ and forma ‘a form’—is to shape something. Information is also largely particular. From languages, to cultural customs, to societal norms; the information we learn is often influenced by the immediacy of its source. As such, it can subsequently become codified by privilege—or a lack thereof. 

Take education. Learning shouldn't be a luxury, yet many are priced out of higher education. For those who can afford it, it becomes further compounded by academic language—academia’s medium of choice—which disenables those without proficiency. This means that, regardless of personal intellect; privilege becomes a factor in the information one can learn.

Sketchnote of Food Cosmogonies by Elvia Vasconcelos

My mind has been moulded by the messages of critical thinking, but the time and effort it took to comprehend its medium was both taxing and costly. This information should not have been my privilege to learn, yet few academic mediums engage in alternate ways of communicating their message.

McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” suggests that the medium holds as much information as the message itself. So, when a medium’s complexity obfuscates its message, what does this say about its intended audience? Indeed, when communication means ‘the transmission of information;’ does this medium then not fail its message in its inaccessibility?

McLuhan’s coined phrase soon came to define his career, and in 1967 he published The Medium is the Massage—a play on ‘mess-age’ and ‘mass-age’—in collaboration with graphic designer Quentin Fiore. Together, they created a predominantly visual publication, which addresses the complexities of communication theory. By breaking the norms of academic publishing, McLuhan proposed alternative mediums of communicating complex messages.

Here, Elvia’s work can be contextualised with McLuhan’s theories. During her studies with The Gramounce, Elvia used her sketchnoting to translate the information she learned into the visual knowledge you see published alongside this post. For her, sketching reconstitutes information into a medium she can better understand, a practice which has led her to undertake a PhD on the subject at Technical University of Eindhoven.

Elvia sees sketching as a language of communication. The sketchnotes Elvia made for The Gramounce were her way of understanding the complexity of their message by reinterpreting their mediums. In the context of her PhD, her research is pioneering new ways to communicate critical thinking, which helps her interpret data. In a wider context, her methods show how academia needn’t be shrouded in semantics.

Sketchnote of Food Cosmogonies by Elvia Vasconcelos

When Elvia and I met, we spoke of the parities between our practices. Where she is examining alternative mediums to communicate the complex messages she is researching; I use the medium of food to contextualise theory’s messages into more digestible formats. In this, queer theory has become my touchstone in its subversion of normative narratives. 

Though both of us are queering the normative narrative—academic language—by presenting its message in novel mediums, neither of us are challenging the notion that academia is an incredibly efficient form of information accumulation. Instead we are examining alternative mediums through which to comprehend it. 

Both Elvia and my practices align with The Gramounce, which subverts normative narratives of information communication by engaging us through food, from historical and cultural symbolism, to contemporary practices. Food, as an academic medium, might enlighten us in communicating the messages of critical thinking to a wider audience, and help not only to mould more minds, but nourish them too.

Sketchnote of Food Cosmogonies by Elvia Vasconcelos