"Hot" and "Cool" Mediums

         The internet has been highly influential in today's modern world. It shrinks our world, while at the same time influencing our interpretation of many works, which could have been perceived differently had they been presented in a "hot" medium. McLuhan defines a type of media as either "hot" or "cool" depending on the level of involvement people have as the information is presented to them.  A "hot" medium would be something like a newspaper. The readers gains information by reading the newspaper, but they have no say on what information is shown, its credibility, or the opinion given by the newspaper. A "cold" medium would be something like the Internet. It allows individuals to provide their own information or create opinions about existing information for others to see, and either agree or disagree with them. "Cool" mediums involve the audience more and create an atmosphere promoting the participation of other, while "hot" mediums do not.
          The photograph above, taken during the first 2012 Presidential Debate, is suitable for both "cool" and "hot" mediums. However, it's interpretation varies in both. In a "hot" medium, the photograph would have been presented with an article possibly describing Romney's performance during the debate. Yet, in a "cool" medium, such as the internet, it had been changed to depict a certain opinion. The words added to the photograph take away its credibility and seriousness by mocking the candidate and his political plans, while at the same time transforming the image into something that is merely demonstrating one person's opinion. However, because it is presented on the internet, other people can easily comment upon it with eiher criticism or praise, depending on their political affiliation. This type of participation makes the picture so much more powerful in this "cool" medium than it would have been in it's former "hot', newspaper print, medium. Its presentation on the internet challenges the rigid structure of "hot" mediums and brings about the question   Is "cool" a medium the only medium that will be used in the future?