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In the context of the McLuhan Galaxy, a series of back-to-back conferences are being organized to celebrate the centenary of Marshall McLuhan’s birth (July 21st, 1911). L’Osservatorio Tuttimedia founded in 1996 by Giovanni Giovannini is planning a two-day conference in Rome and Naples, May 30-31, 2011.

McLuhan’s reputation in Italy and in Rome where he lectured a dozen times between 1965 and 1978 is very high. His work continues to be relevant in many aspects of today’s digital culture as witnessed by the following quote from 1962:
“The next medium, whatever it is – it may be the extension of conciousness – will include television as it’s content, not as its environment, and will transform television into an art form. A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization, retrieve the individuals encyclopedic function and flip into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind.” (Understanding Media 1962)

The purpose of the conference is to assess such predictions and how they matured today and explore the continuation of the trends announced by McLuhan in the present era.

Partnerships: L’Osservatorio Tuttimedia (principal), University “La Sapienza” in Rome, University Federico II in Naples, Telecom Italia, Provincia di Napoli, ANSA, Citta della Scienza (Napoli), and several others to be confirmed.