1. Introduction (A Media Ecology Review‪)‬

I would like to dedicate this essay to the memories of Walter J. Ong, S.J. and Neil Postman, who passed away within two months of each other, Ong on August 12th and Postman on October 5th of 2003. Through their careers and the body of work they have left us, these two educators, both of whom achieved the highest possible academic rank, University Professor, at their respective institutions, Saint Louis and New York Universities, were instrumental in establishing the foundations of media ecology as a field of inquiry. Moreover, Walter Ong set the standard and demonstrated the possibilities for scholarship in the media ecology intellectual tradition, and Neil Postman exemplified the practice of media ecology analysis by a public intellectual engaged in social criticism. Working parallel to one another, Ong and Postman built upon an intellectual tradition that has its roots in the ancient world, a tradition that coalesced in response to the revolutions in communication, media, and technology of the 19th and 20th centuries, and brought it into the 21st century. In viewing Ong and Postman as twin pillars of media ecology, I do not mean to deny that there are significant differences between them. Certainly, it would be possible to contrast their midwest and east coast backgrounds and their Roman Catholic and Reform Jewish faiths. We could also differentiate Ong's historical focus from Postman's emphasis on current affairs, Ong's phenomenological approach from Postman's grounding in linguistics, and Ong's dialectic of the oral and the literate from Postman's of the word and the image. But what separates the two scholars is overshadowed by what they hold in common: a shared perspective and sensibility, and a strong connection to the most celebrated of all media ecology scholars, Marshall McLuhan. In fact, media ecology can be understood as an intellectual network in which McLuhan, Ong, and Postman constitute the prime nodes (corresponding geographically to Toronto, St. Louis, and New York City).