一个重要的媒介生态学纪念日刚刚过去，而另一个又已到来。1973年，尼尔·波兹曼在演讲传播协会（SCA，即当今美国传播协会的前身）发表主旨演讲。正是在这篇演讲中，波兹曼向更广泛的学术界介绍了「媒介生态学」这一说法，并以他惯常那种俏皮而犀利的笔调描述了我们这个领域，以及围绕这一理念组织学术研究的努力。首先触动我的，是演讲开篇不久的这段话：
An important media ecology anniversary has recently passed, just as another is upon us. In 1973, Neil Postman delivered the keynote address at the Speech Communication Association, the foreparent of our contemporary National Communication Association. It was in this address that Postman introduced the broader academic community to the phrase “media ecology,” and offered a typically cheeky and sharp description of our field, and of the work being done to organize scholarship around the idea. I’m struck, first, by this remark, found early in the address: