Media Ecology’s Coordinate Axis Of Thinking:Paradigm Based On The Perspective Of Technology/Media

The rise of the Media Ecology in North America broke the world situation of the Communication where the Empirical School and Critical School monopoly the field of Communication. The Empirical School emphasis on empirical research and the effect of media content, the Critical School focuses on the critical study of the cultural industries, operating mechanism of mass media, media systems, the spread of ideology. Both of them pay attention to the media content. In contrast to them, the Media Ecology emphasizes the importance of the media itself, it considers the media as environment, and explores the symbiotic relationship between the media and people. Humanistic concern is the spiritual core of the Media Ecology.To compensate for the neglect of traditional research on the medium itself, it emphasizes the importance of media which plays an important role in social change, analysis the effects of media to human, culture, and society with micro-or macro respectives. Media Ecology created a new paradigm of Communication Studies, in the same time, it has injected new vitality into the development of Communication Studies.Recently, with the rise and development of the Media Ecology in Northe America, it has became a remarkable subject. Regrettably, in China, research about the Media Ecology is still at the stage of introducing and translating the original works, the result is not plentiful, and the probe is so superficial. Meanwhile, the Media Ecology is at the stage of self-reflection. Therefore, there is so great theoretical value to analysis and interpretate its ideological framework. This study is an exploratory research, and can be regarded as the thinking review of Media Ecology. Using methods of text interpretation, from the perspective of humanism, from the two dimensions——the view of technology and the view of media, this paper described eight representatives in four generations of the Media Ecology——Lewis Mumford、Jacques Ellul (both are the predecessors of ME), Harold Innis、Marshall McLuhan (both are the representativesof the first generation in ME), Neil Postman、Walter Ong (both are the representativesof the second generation in ME), Paul Levinson、 Joshua Meyrowitz (both are the representativesof the third generation in ME), in order to outline the theoretical framework of the Media Ecology.