 Harold Innis 's study of the effects of interconnected lakes and rivers on Canadian development and European empire sparked his interest in the complex economic and cultural relationships between transportation systems and communications . During the 1940s , Innis also began studying pulp and paper , an industry of central importance to the Canadian economy . This research provided an additional crossover point from his work on staple products to his communications studies . Biographer Paul <unk> writes that Innis " followed pulp and paper through its subsequent stages : newspapers and journalism , books and advertising . In other words , from looking at a natural resource @-@ based industry he turned his attention to a cultural industry in which information , and ultimately knowledge , was a commodity that circulated , had value , and empowered those who controlled it . " 
