Towards Making Sense of C21st Tactile Technologies

The Centre for Sensory Studies is pleased to present a lecture by Dr. Andrew Chrystall, Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand, as part of the Fall Semester Sensory Studies Research Seminar.

In the spirit of McLuhan’s exhortation to share and organize ignorance for discovery, this presentation will offer a work-in-progress report on research on tactility and the C21st technological environment. The focus of this presentation is on sharing the findings of the first phase of the research: a retrospective of Marshall McLuhan’s career-long study of the senses, extended sensory perception (ESP) and tactility.

The presentation also seeks to surface and wrestle with competing claims—in particular those of Donald F. Theall and Mark B. Hansen—a propos McLuhan’s relevance for understanding the inter-relations of the senses and technology today.