McLuhan's "Tetrad of Media" Based on wikipedia, visually, a tetrad can be depicted as four diamonds forming an X, with the name of a medium in the center. The two diamonds on the left of a tetrad are the Enhancement and Retrieval qualities of the medium, both Figure qualities. The two diamonds on the right of a tetrad are the Obsolescence and Reversal qualities, both Ground qualities.
- Enhancement (figure): What the medium amplifies or intensifies. For example, radio amplifies news and music via sound.
- Obsolescence (ground): What the medium drives out of prominence. Radio reduces the importance of print and the visual.
- Retrieval (figure): What the medium recovers which was previously lost. Radio returns the spoken word to the forefront.
- Reversal (ground): What the medium does when pushed to its limits. Acoustic radio flips into audio-visual TV.
Another example of a medium is the television. Nowadays most people are more fond of downloading movies and tv shows on their computers. Some also stream live cast of sports events without having to turn on the tv by just using their computers. To some, it may be more pleasurable watching on their computers. Some say that, downloading tv shows on the computer just skips all those long advertisement that you would have to go through with a comercial channel on the tv.
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