Immediacy and Hypermediacy

"New digital media oscillate between immediacy and hypermediacy, between transparency and opacity."(Bolter, 2000. p20)

Bolter and Gursin coined the terms immediacy and hypermediacy, which are present in different digital technologies. Immediacy describes a medium has transparent and focuses on the quality of the content. Designers try to make digital technologies more transparent as they want users to interact more naturally without electronic tools and forget that they are using a medium. "What designers often say they want is an "interfaceless" interface, in which there will be no recognisable electronic tools- no buttons, windows, scroll bars, or even icons as such." (Bolter, 2002. pg23). 

Bolter and Gursin use virtual reality as an example of immediacy. Virtual reality is an artificial world created by computers. It consisting of graphics and three dimensional images and users can explore the world through personal interaction. Its aim is to give users a sense of presence and experiences similar to their own daily visual experiences in real life. Three dimensional images create a greater immediacy for the computer experience and digital graphics are increasing popular as they are more realistic, lively and exciting compared to texts and instructions on a computer. Designers of computer graphics do not want ruptures in their virtual worlds and they want to achieve 'photorealism'. They want to produce graphics which have a realistic appearance to photographs. "To achieve photorealism, the synthetic digital image adopts the criteria of the photograph." (Bolter. 2000. pg28).  

The opposite of immediacy is hypermediacy. Users of hypermedia 'window style' technologies are made aware of the interface. Multiple representations and layers are included in the windows, such as graphics, image, text, menus and scroll bars. Users are active when pressing these buttons and this makes them constantly aware that they are using a medium. Hypermediacy focuses on the users attention and interactivity whereas immediacy focuses on the content being produced.

Overall, immediacy refers to looking through media and hypermediacy focuses on looking at media. Interactivity with digital technologies creates realism for the users. Being absorbed into different virtual realities helps them to escape from their own reality. As Erkki Huhtamo (1995) says, technologies is becoming more like second nature to us.



Bibliography:

Bolter, J.D, (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media. New Ed. MIT Press. (p20-50)

REMEDIATION

There is a real effective presence of media in our culture. It has a claim to reality as more of a cultural artifact such as photographs, films and computer applications being as real as building and aeroplanes.  There are two logics of remediation which both have a history for their interplay which defines a genealogy that dates way back to the Renaissance and the invention of linear perspective.

Within our digital media culture today hypermedia plays upon our desire for immediacy and transparent immediacy which makes us hyper-conscious of our act of seeing. The term immediacy refers to the idea of closeness like people would be with their families and friends. It is an expression of our fascination with the medium itself. It has been described as ‘an entirely new kind of media experience born from the marriage of TV and computer technologies’. (Bolter, 2000, p.31)

Remediation puts us one step from reality when it involves the media. In early to mid-1990s, Hollywood produced numerous filmed versions of classic novels. ‘They do not contain any overt reference to the novels on which they are based; they certainly do not acknowledge that they are adaptations.’  (Bolter, 2000, p.44) Consumers going to watch these movies would have expected direct referencing to the novels they had previously read. The content or the storyline had been borrowed but had no direct reference or quote to the medium that had been created. As most other things remediation sets off a number of arguments, we can argue that remediation is a defining characteristic of the new digital age that we live in. It comes with both pro’s and con’s.  What we can’t argue is that remediation is a key factor in what industry uses to entertain us.

Bolter, J.D. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed. (MIT Press. P.20-50)

Remediation within new media

 “Media technologies constitute networks or hybrids that can be expressed in physical, social aesthetic and economic terms. Introducing a new media technology does not mean simply inventing new hardware and software, but rather fashioning (refashioning) such a network.” (Bolter, 2000, p20)

Drawing upon the works of Jay David Bolter we can look at the how the process of remediation is used within new media technologies and their effect on other technologies. Focusing on the media as more than just the software and hardware that makes the technology but rather the uses and traits it takes on after its creation.  This is the key to how media technologies progress within a new media culture by reforming from older more contemporary media. World Wide Web for example isn’t just a search engine it is defined by the things it can be used for. For example Marketing, advertising, personal expression, data sharing and communication are all traits that the World Wide Web is known for, not the singles of code that physically make it.  “Media have the same claim to reality as more tangible cultural artifacts; photographs, films, and computer applications are as real as airplanes and buildings.” (Bolter, 2000, p20)

Because of the new media culture that we live in these components have allowed this software (www) to continue to be refashioned to meet even more needs of its users. Therefore expanding its uses and adapting to cultural needs.  These cultural needs can depend on the use of other technologies. Social networking sites such as Facebook have gone through a number ‘reformations’. The technology itself is just a platform to which allows the user to fill with content, it doesn’t therefore count as new media as a platform until it starts to use remediation methods of ‘refashioning’  certain aspects such as organised content, and their own reused techniques. Overall Facebook is ‘unique’ because of its control of networking content through different mediums, yet sites like tumblr, myspace and twitter have all used the same controlling methods before and so they have ‘refashioned’ themselves around the already established new medias. They have used remediation to read the cultural social and economic concerns of the new media culture. Remediation makes us aware that every medium is; at the core level, a “play of signs” (Bolter, 2000, p20)

Bibliography:

Bolter,J.D. (2000). Remediation: understanding new media. New Ed. MIT Press. (p20 -50)

By: Jonathan Milliken

Is Remediation Wrong?

Bolter discusses the term remediation as media companies using different content across different media platforms and reusing them to create something new. We can see signs of this happening as some novels are made into films. An example of this would be the on the novel Treasure Island. This story has been re-created, re-platforms and sold on different mediums.

Remediation can be used in all most all of popular culture. If we take the latest episode of Dr Who. In this episode the Doctor is forced to jump into his own timeline as of which the few senses are flashbacks of his past which is being represented by video content from early episode from years before. As we can see in Dr Who old media content is being reused to create something new.      

This term could be established to most medium content. We can even see remediation in our technologies in which we view new media digital content. For example if wee look at all websites and how the information is presented to us. Every website is different but they all have some key style within them. In a website the information is broke into columns for easy interactive. We can see some basic similarities in printed new papers and the way in which it presents its information of course without the interactive as this is an old media form but of course on how the information is presented.

As with anything remediation sets off a number of arguments and what is ok to copy and how it is repurposing. It has both its advantages and its disadvantages. Whether it is a good thing or bad thing we cannot say, but one thing is clear that it is one of the key factors in are entertainment industries.

  

Technological Evolution: To Infinity and Beyond!

Casual change is a disciple of cybernetics. We are all cyborgs, and this is not a commonly conceptualized fictitious state. A social, cultural and political engagement with technology has emerged; and culturally constructed – we are induced through media. “Technology is gradually becoming second nature, a territory both external and internalized, and an object of desire. There is no need to make it transparent any longer, simply because is it not felt to be in contradiction to the 'authenticity of the experience'” (Bolter, 2000, p.42) We are no longer limited to living in our “God given” state, we exist through technology, but what are our cultural discontents? Furthermore, cyborg is a constant transformative state.“It is a medium that offers 'random access'; it has no physical beginning, middle, or end”. (Bolter, 2000, p.31) A concept which from a vast perspective is difficult to grasp. Just how much is an infinite amount of technological change? 'The Infinite', a noun once associated with 'God', has ironically shifted to terminology currently used to describe potential for growing technological advancement. We can only determine future development through past creation. “This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence.” (Benjamin, 1935, p.3)

Emanating from Darwin's theory of evolution, there is the “highest importance to gain a clear insight into the means of modification and co- adaptation.” (Darwin, 1859, p.12) Due to the arise of technology, a shifting development of self has emerged. Although technology is continuously improving in order to better idealistic conversions, our body has similarly accommodated to technology in order to adapt. We have become an assemblage of self and machine; a development of cyborgification. We are not Androids. Our relationship with technology and thought begins to merge; our thought process becomes automatic while using technology to the extend where technology has become ubiquitous.  

Further expanding on the concept of cyborgification becoming the next evolutionary state, as a culture we are continuously tested to refine our ability to adapt to New Media. “Virtual Reality won't merely replace TV. It will eat it alive”; (Rheingold, 1991) much like the evolution of living organisms. We are presented with the possibility of an active role rather than becoming a mere passive consumer. For example, by merely participating in systems such as video games, a feedback loop in generated between the functionality of man and machine. If human compatibility is not satisfactory, the user will be denied access to any advancements within their alternate reality. “Creators of other electronic remediations seen to want to emphasize the difference rather than erase it. In these cases, the electronic version is offered as an improvement.” (Bolter, 2000, p.46) Although technological evolution is currently taking place, our body is not obsolete. “The logic of hyper mediacy multiplies the signs of mediation and in this way tries to re produce the rich sensorium of human experience.” (Bolter, 2000, p.34) We produce a relationship with interactive media as a function. Interactive media is static until operated by the user. 

Bibliography:

Benjamin, Walter (1935) 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction' in Durham, Meenakshi Gigi and Douglas M. Kellner (2006) Media and Cultural Studies (Oxford: Blackwell)

Bolter, J.D. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed. (MIT Press. P.20-50)

Darwin, C. (1859). On the Origin of Species, (Bromley: Kent)

Rheingold, H. (1991) Virtual Reality (New York, Simon and Schuster)

‘Remediation’

In the twenty first century we can see ‘Remediation’ all around us. Films and advertising would be the best examples. It is a way that company’s can insure success from the success of the product its self. 

The new Dracula series and film is a good example of this. Vampires where first talked about in 1047 then 1897 Bram stoker publishes the novel Dracula. This was a popular base to work off as we still see it in the media in 2014 with hundreds of vampire films in-between.

In the book ‘Remediation’ written by Jay Bolter David and Richard Grusin in 1951 sees remediation as using and taking something from old to new or from one medium to another. They talk a lot about the different types of repurposing within the media, through technology and webpages films and entertainment.  When first studding ‘Remediation’ I thought it was wrong to use another product to your gain. I believe now that ‘Remediation’ is sometimes giving more to the product maybe making it more advanced and giving it more meaning. 

When studding the way ‘Remediation’ was used in art Bolter writes  “This kind of borrowing is fundamental not only to film and painting but also to literature,” (Bolter.2000, P45.) He also writes about the way arts and film directors learn from their predictors, so that sometimes they don’t have to make the same mistakes or improve.  

  

This raises the argument we will never learn to change or move forward if we keep falling back on the old. “We need to transcend the old to discover completely new worlds of expression.” (Bolter.2000, P45.) 

From researching and reading ‘Remediation’ is linked to a lot of different things in the media. It helps it move people more forward but at the same time they have to break out of the conventional way of doing it. 

Bibliography

BOLTER, Jay David (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media. London, MIT Press.

Déjà vu

In general terms, remediation is the act of providing a remedy. Within media however, we view remediation as the incorporation or representation of one medium in another medium.  It is a defining characteristic of new digital media and something that is constantly happening within our culture, "the content' of any medium is always another medium." (McLuhan, 1964, p23-24)

Remediation can be visible or transparent. The Hollywood adaptations of Jane Austen's classic novels is an example of transparent remediation. The films themselves do not contain any acknowledgment or reference to the original mediums, “The content has been borrowed, but the medium has not been appropriated or quoted” (Bolter 2000, p44). This allows for the complete absorption of the original medium into the new medium. “Acknowledging the novel in the film would disrupt the continuity and the illusion of immediacy that Austen’s readers expect” (Bolter 2000, p44). Much like CD-ROM picture galleries on the internet offer the same paintings, not in opposition to the originals, but merely as a new means of attaining the same result. The original is remediated to an electronic digital form.

In contrast to this, remediation can be more aggressive in its refashioning of the medium or media. Movie clips can be torn out of context, and placed in a totally new environment such as music videos. Thus becoming a visible remediation; “The work becomes a mosaic in which we are simultaneously aware of the individual pieces and their new, inappropriate setting.” (Bolter 2000, p47)

Bolter and Grusin also state the case of the vide game, and it’s attempt to re-absorb the older medium “so the discontinuities between the two are minimized” (Bolter 2000, p47). Games such as “Doom” and “Myst” remediate cinema, allowing players to “become characters  in a cinematic narrative” (Bolter 2000, p47). 

The process of remediation is extremely popular in modern day culture, yet it is nothing new. Classical painters drew scenes from the Bible, and Dutch painters incorporated maps, gloves, letters and mirrors. Remediation will dhere to the rules of each new media platform, digesting and absorbing all old mediums and media content that has gone before it.

Bibiliography

Bolter, J.D, (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media, New Ed. MIT Press. (p20-50)

McLuhan, M. (1964) Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

Obsession With Realism

The term transparent immediacy should be considered as two separate words first to truly understand it. Transparency is the idea that the developers of the virtual reality interface are trying to design it in such a way to disappear the medium. ‘Virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose of to disappear’. (Bolter 2000, p.21) The reason for this is to make it so instinctive that it erases itself and becomes an ‘”interfaceless” interface’. (Bolter 2000, p.23) This transparent interface blurs the line between reality and the virtual work by making the medium no longer conscious to the user.

The term immediacy refers to the idea of closeness and being intimate like people would be with their families. ‘Immediacy is our name for a family of beliefs and practices that express themselves differently at various times among various groups’. (Bolter 2000, p.30) Users want an instant connection with the medium, for example, when video calling a friend using a software application such as Skype, the user has a feeling of immediate contact, even though the other individual is only on a screen and not actually face to face. ‘The logic of transparent immediacy does not necessarily commit the viewer to an utterly naïve or magical conviction that the representation is the same as what is represents’. (Bolter 2000, p.30)

An example of early immediacy would be photography or even painting, where the viewer would be unified with the image through a window or automatic reproduction. (Bolter 2000, p.26) It does this by removing the human (so the photographer or painter) as the agent who makes the viewer realise that the image is not actually transparent.

‘The viewer can see that she is immersed, (…) now inside the depicted space’. (Bolter 2000, p.29)

The user is submerged in the virtual world where they have the point of view of the first person and their field of vision should be continuous and filled without breaks. ‘But today’s technology still contains many ruptures: slow frame rates, jagged graphics, bright colors, bland lighting, and system crashes’. (Bolter 2000, p.22) The ‘desire for immediacy is apparent in claims that digital images are more exciting, lively and realistic than mere text on a computer screen’. (Bolter 2000, p.23) In ever more popular films, the idea of how the future will be and the ideas of virtual reality will be increasingly incorporated into society. Even now there has been a greater use of animation and computer generated images in many film such as The Matrix (1999) or S1m0ne (2002), where a producer creates an overnight star who is actually a computer.

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Bibliography

BOLTER, Jay David (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media. London, MIT Press.

Remediation

In his book ‘Remediation’, Bolter discusses this term as the entertainment industry borrowing content from other mediums, he states that “The contemporary entertainment industry calls such borrowing “repurposing”: to take a “property” from one medium and reuse it in another.” This can be demonstrated with the making of popular films which originated from novels, however in order for viewers to consume this in a seamless way in which they desire, there is never any direct reference to the novel or the original medium in which the content was ‘borrowed’ from. (Bolter. 2000, P45.)

Repurposing content from other mediums is exceedingly common within today’s popular culture, as due to continuous consumer demands and popularity of ‘remakes’ and ‘sequels’ etc. and the constant demand for new and better media forms, content is constantly being reused and refashioned from older mediums into newer mediums, it almost appears to be no longer acceptable to have media content on solely one platform.

A well-established example of this would be the Harry Potter Saga which swept the world through various media platforms. Firstly originating from a purpose to tell a story within books, then came the blockbuster movies which allowed viewers to bring the story to life, and lastly video games were created allowing viewers to interact and feel a part of the experience within the story. Remediation is present here due to every one of these media platforms keeping the same purpose of telling the same story only reusing the content and adhering to the demands for new media platforms.

“Repurposing as remediation is both what is “unique to digital worlds” and what denies the possibility of that uniqueness.” (Bolter. 2000, P50.)

Below shows an example of repurposed or refashioned old features within Disney animations. Although this is not directly exact scenes being duplicated and reused, it still gives the example of how the entertainment industry recycles old media in order to create new media.
 

Overall, remediation is present within all aspects of media platforms, depending on the reuse and refashion of content to create new media, giving it a new purpose within our popular culture.

Bibliography

Bolter, J.D, (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media, New Ed. MIT Press. (p20-50)

Recycled movements in Disney's movies - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjmaOj3_sKk

Remediation in entertainment

According to Bolter in Remediation: Understanding New Media, the term remediation can be defined in terms of the entertainment industry as "repurposing: to take a property from one medium and reuse it in another" (Bolter, 2000, p45) The entertainment industry has always had a history of taking older films and reinventing them for a newer audience but now its not just remaking films that can be considered as remediation.

In this day and age, it seems no longer acceptable to have a media on just one platform, for example just a video game or just a movie. Video games which have reached global success through the years like Halo or Final Fantasy, after numerous game releases for their prospective consoles, have made the move to other medias many times, Halo with various books and comics, a web series and an upcoming live action TV series and Final Fantasy with multiple mangas and CGI films, including Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, which was a direct sequel to the events of Final Fantasy 7. So to mirror Bolter's definition, taking features from a game like Final Fantasy, for example characters or locations, fans of the franchise are placed in a familiar setting, whilst the use of a different medium can bring around a whole new audience, who may not have accessed the media through its original means, introducing them to a new form of digital media as Bolter states "Remediation is a defining characteristic of the new digital media" (Bolter, 2000, p45)

Whether or not, it is a good or bad thing that remediation or "repurposing" is a factor within the entertainment industry, it has both its benefits and disadvantages, can still be argued. While its a good thing that, using multiple platforms can introduce a new audience to a franchise, that they previously never would have experienced, it can also reduces the appearance of any new material, which can lead to fans getting bored of franchises and therefore affect sales. It is a method that need not be overused.

Bibliography

Bolter, J.D, (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media, New Ed. MIT Press. (p20-50)

Remediation-Bolter

Remediation is becoming a more and more important term in society today, as there are so many products which are just recycled. For example, Spiderman. Spiderman began as a Marvel comic in 1963 with "The Amazing Spiderman", it has since been a TV series, (The Amazing Spiderman- 1977-1978) an animated cartoon, (Spiderman-1994), a film (Spiderman-2002), a video game (The Amazing Spider-man-2012) which ties in with the most recent film (The Amazing Spider-man- 2012). The films are, granted, different from each other but they still have the same theme. They are all based on the comic book, which came out 50 years ago, and the only way to understand the films is to have a knowledge of the comic or the other media- as Bolter states:

"The new medium remains dependent on the older one in acknowledged or unacknowledged ways" (Bolter, 2000, p. 47)

Bolter goes on to say that film is trying to reuse or repurpose digital technology. (2000,p.48). The majority of action and science fiction films use special effects to some degree, although it has become apparent that these are also reused from other films. The video below shows a clip from Transformers 3 which is strikingly similar to the clip from The Island:

This isn't exclusive to live action or science fiction films, it also occurs in animation. Disney for example reused dance sequences from several other Disney films. The next video shows it in practice-

Although this type of remediation can be argued that it is a reuse of choreography instead of actual animation, the main point is there-Disney are still reusing old features.
Most recently, Call of Duty Ghosts reused a cutscene from Modern Warfare 2, all that was different was the vehicle, the clothing and the landscape. The motions, and facial expressions were exactly the same. 
Audiences are now more perceptive to the reuse of media and with websites like Youtube, they can make it known. This is perhaps going to make it more difficult for the entertainment industry to make something new and exciting that audiences will enjoy.

"Repurposing as remediation is both what is 'unique to digital worlds' and what denies the possibility of it's uniqueness" (Bolter, 2000, p.50)


References

Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press. (P.20-50)

Transformers 3 Scene- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7kcqB3thJM

Disney Montage- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWKo5veKjVU

Call of Duty Ghost Reused Cutscene- http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/06/call-of-duty-ghosts-branded-lazy-for-reusing-modern-warfare-2-cutscene-4175989/

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a way off opening up people to a whole new type of world were they can do, be or even see anything fro the birth of the universe to its inevitable distraction. At this time we can not make anything close to this perfect reality. Bolter says " Today's technology still contains may ruptures: slow frame rates, jagged graphics, bright colours, bland lighting, system crashes."(Bolter,J.D.2000.p.g.22) Today technology have came a long way sense  Bolter write his book but we are still not there. technology has gotten to the point were video-conference are easy to manage threw the use of Skype something that Bolter seen coming. " video-conference will lead to more effective communication than a telephone call." (Bolter,J.D.2000.p.g.23)

The desktop computer has lead to a physical reputation that people can see and make sense off i.e. folders, icons and the trash bin. these are all things that every desktop and laptop have. They are a small window's in to virtual reality. Figure one is an example of a modern day desktop.

Figure 1

Transparent is a term used to describe the line that has been crossed in virtual reality to make it so real that people could lose them selves in it and get confused between the two. Bolter states that " Transparent interface would be one that erases itself, so that the user is no longer aware of confronting a medium."  (Bolter,J.D.2000.p.g.23) The movie Inception can be referenced for this as in the movie the lead protagonist is afraid of losing the grip of what is a dream and what is not just like his wife did. Could technology be so advanced that this could happen or would people action want to use it as a form of escapism and it shall become there reality instead of the physical existence. 

Bibliography


Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press. (P.20-50)

Automation as a Means to Immediacy

As Bolter (p.25) mentions, "[a] third strategy for achieving transparency has been to automate the technique of linear perspective." To deconstruct this to a basic explanation and use the camera as an analogy, the camera automates the process of capturing a scene through a series of light based chemical reactions, or a light sensitive electronic sensor. It takes direct illustration of the scene out of the hands of the artists and puts it in the hands of another processing unit. The question of quality then becomes one of mastery of an external system rather than the individual's ability.

Manovich in his explanation of automation as a property of new media describes the automotive processes that modern technology can do which could lead to a 'perfect' realization of Immediacy,

"Other computer programs can automatically generate 3D objects such as trees, landscapes, human figures and detailed ready-to-use animations of complex natural phenomena such as fire and waterfalls. In Hollywood films, flocks of birds, ant colonies and crowds of people are automatically created by AL (artificial life) software." Manovich (p.53).

 

If the perfect realization of transparent immediacy is a state where the user does not recognise using tools at all, then in order to grant that illusion automation and variability have to reach a point where the options provided along with cause and effect are virtually limitless. For example, if we were to take a basic program such as 'Paint' and say wanted to seamlessly use it as if we were actually painting, what would happen if I wanted to take a drink of coffee? In order to provide actual seamless and total transparency we should be able to pick my coffee off the table and take a sip and place it back down without for example, deselecting the pencil tool. In order to do that, the computer would need to recognise the fact I have a coffee on the table and not render anything in the space it occupies and would also need to acknowledge the physicality of the object for manipulation of any images.

 

Ultimately the idea of completely transparent immediacy is impossible, as it would require instantaneous physical manifestations of objects. Physicality is a requirement of transparency defined as not breaking immersion.

 

 

 

Bibliography

Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press. (P.20-50)

Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Transparent Immediacy

“Virtual reality, three dimensional graphics, and graphical interface design are all seeking to make digital technology transparent.” (Bolter, J. 2000. P23)

Immediacy refers to the phenomenon that where something is happening in front of us in an immersive environment makes it seem more important to us as users.  This has lest New Media historians like Bolter to reference this in their work, of course referring to technological advances in computing.  These advances can be minor, such as the ability to create high quality digital images, to more advanced programming, such as the designing of operating systems or the realness of a computer game.  Computer interfaces are becoming more immersive and responsive, images can be completely edited in minutes, and films can be entirely animated and will star voice actors.  One of the main struggles of computer designers is making the experience more enjoyable for the user, make computing processes feel more natural than clicking on buttons to do what they want.

“What designers often say they want is an “interfaceless” interface, in which there will be no recognizable electronic tools…” (Bolter, J. 2000. P23)

An example of this “Interfaceless” interface beginning to be implemented, could be illustrated by the changes in windows operating systems over the years.  We all know what windows 98 looks like, its boxy, pixelated, but its initial layout was so efficient that it became the norm for windows OS’s up until windows 8.  Windows 8 is created for touch screen, it visually looks brilliant, however users have gotten accustomed to the layout and style of windows 98 through to windows 7, and many find windows 8 very confusing to work, and there is a steep learning curve to switch from windows 7 to a touch screen windows 8.  Never the less, designers are clearly making efforts to further their software in accordance to Bolters theory of Transparent Immediacy.

Bibliography

Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press. (P.20-50)

Humans or TechnoBodies?

If we are to believe that "human is unthinkable without technology" (Shaw, 2008, p81) then we would have to believe that, in everyday living, we would be unable to achieve the simplest of tasks, without the assistance of technology. Something as simple as getting up in the morning would be near impossible and basic needs like eating and exercising wouldn't even be a thought. Is this the way it has always been or has New Media made it so we have other factors to relay on for the everyday, mundane tasks? The way in which we have consumed new technology could confirm this statement.

As technology has developed through the years, industry has found ways to make ordinary tasks seem that much easier. Looking at something as simple as a universal remote eliminated the need to have multiple remotes around the living room, meaning that they couldn't be lost as easy and you wouldn't have to get off the sofa to get another remote for example, to turn on the DVD player. This kind of ideology spread to other outlets and New Media has now found a way into our hands through our smartphones, tablets and laptops, all of which are carried around day to day, by the general public. Everything that someone needs and more can be accessed from your smartphone. Emails can be checked, video calls, any form of social media, online shopping and even checking the weather. As the consumption of these products and ideas expands, they gradually become an even bigger presence within everyday life, "We may have made these 'machines' but not, in a very real sense, they make us" (Shaw, 2008, p88)

In order to make the statement at the beginning redundant, humans have to be able to show that they can exist without the need to use technology to make life easier and cut down on its consumption, but now with humans using maybe two different technologies at the same time, for example, tweeting on their phone while watching TV, maybe what Shaw says in Technoculture: The Key Concepts has some truth to it. Maybe humans have been "cyborged by our own machines" (Shaw, 2008, p95) and humans really are becoming "TechnoBodies"?

Bibliography

Shaw, D (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts: Oxford Berg Press

A cyborgian encounter

Within this post-human age, the relationship between man and machine has completely changed with the increase flow of new media technologies.  Debra Shaw discusses in her book the extent of the constant consumption of new media and how it have changed its consumers, into cyborgs. "we are not 'minds' that observe and process an informational world that includes our own bodies but complex systems that reproduce themselves in connection with their environment." (Shaw, 2008. p82) 

The relationship between consumer and technology has changed into the environment around them. The huge influence that new media has on consumers on-line interactions. Media such as social networking sites allows people to stay in touch on a global level, making the media their environment. This 'on-line' environment is produced by the activity of the consumers and helps produce cyborg consumers that reply on it. "Technology should not be considered an adjunct to the body or in opposition to it but as a determinant of its ontology". (Shaw, 2008. p81)

Norbett Wiener coined the word cybernetics to refer to how humans are becoming more like the technology their depend on. Wiener's theory uses the comparison between human DNA and computer coding to show how we humans are becoming more machine like. This theory of what if humans were more like machines and 'transmit' signals. instead of sound waves and transmitting light, we 'transmit' ourselves through the new media available to us. Pointing out how the technology can consume an individual until it is a piece of their daily regime. This is the digital zombie/cyborg age we live in were new media has become the environment which we as consumers can never be satisfied with. 

Bibliography

Shaw, D. (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press.

New Media as a Cyborgian Encounter

Technology has become such a massive part of our everyday lives that it's hard to imagine a world without it. As Stiegler said:
"The human invents himself in the technical by inventing the tool-by becoming exteriorised technologically" (Stiegler in Shaw, 2008, p.81). 
Technology allows people to communicate, create and distribute, however to do this, people need to buy it. New Media allows different methods of consumption-for example, previously it was necessary to go to the cinema or buy a DVD to see a film or watch a program on a set night at a set time; it is now possible to watch it from your sofa without having to go out or, for the likes of Netflix with a monthly subscription, pay for each film. This does impact the social element of going to the cinema with other people and defeats the water cooler idea as there is no need to wait till the next day to talk about it. Instead, there are social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and forum boards or blogs (Pintrest, Reddit, Tumblr, Blogger)  for discussing media while it is still on the TV. 
Twitter during the Alan Carr: Chatty Man chat show, can be used to tweet about the show with the hash tag #AlanCarrShow, which brings a community of people together while the show is on. People with a smartphone or tablet can then get a running commentary on what is happening so that they will be up to date. Without this technology, they would be behind on the latest news and would be unable to socialise with people who have watched the show. 
With regards to social media, the ability to "like" pages of musicians, TV characters, actors/actresses, films etc. on Facebook and have it appear on the Newsfeed allows us to access any new information about the subject. For example Thor: The Dark World is out in cinemas today, but on the Amazon Facebook page, they are advertising the DVD and Blu-Ray which won't be for about 6 months. This gives the impression that it is a massively successful film if the advertisements are suggesting a pre-order. The user is then redirected to the Amazon page where the Blu-ray/DVD is posted, as well as having access to reviews to find out more information about it. After purchasing, you can then "share" the purchase on Facebook with others-which let's others know that the user purchased this, and it's worth shouting about. The idea that we need to know every little thing about a product or film comes hand in hand with New Media and the ability to use multiple devices at the same time.

 "We are, in effect, constantly 'plugged in' to the technology through which this information is disseminated while we employ increasingly elaborate technological solutions to keep ahead of the game" (Shaw, 2008, p.86)




Bibliography

Shaw, D. (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press

Amazon Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=875943229119808&set=a.444830632231072.85944.136154403098698&type=1&theater date accessed- 30/10/13

Thor:The Dark World-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/ date accessed 30/10/13

New Media as a Cyborgian Encounter

"The destructiveness of war furnishes proof that society has not been mature enough to incorporate technology as its organ, that technology has not been sufficiently developed to cope with the elemental forces of society."

(Benjamin 1936/1969, p.232)

Shaw and Benjamin interestingly draw parallels almost immediately of the machine to war, "A well disciplined army, in fact, can be compared to a well oiled machine." (p.82). Note how Benjamin (p.232) explicitly refers to technology as an organ, and not a tool. The idea of technology as an extension of the self is very well demonstrated in warfare, the "disciplined body" as Shaw refers to it as (p.82) does not refer to itself as an individual but instead classifies itself in relation to it's discipline. For example, an artilleryman does not refer to himself as a "person who uses artillery." At the very base level of language and communication the individual has inseparably identified themselves in unison with their tools.

You can go one step further in this war based analogy and even say that an army demonstrates a few of the properties Manovich (p. 18) defines for New Media;

1. Numerical Representation - instead of numbers, each artifact of a military can be debased to the raw human element. Humans serve as the binary.

2. Modularity - Instead of a picture in a webpage, you can take a tank from the context of a battlefield, a person from the context of a tank, and so on.

3. Automation - The homogenized training regime for every unit results in a population of people with the exact same skill sets. 

4. Variability - Different battlefield arrangements, an battle fought in a desert environment will not have the same arrangement as one fought in an urban environment.

The underlying structure is similar, the properties of automation and variability of New Media serve as the barracks, serving content and training an individual based on their interests. The result being an individual who uses New Media as an extension of identity, no longer a "person who partakes" but a participant. Ultimately however, a question still lingers, are we mature enough as a society to integrate technology as our organ? 

Bibliography

Benjamin, W. (1936/1969). The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction (H. Zohn, Trans.). In H. Arendt (Ed.), Illuminations (pp. 217-251). New York, NY: Schocken Books.

Shaw, D. (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press (P.81-102)

Manovich, L. (2001). The language of new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

iHuman

In our current culture, nearly any task is completed via, or with the help, of some technological appliance. We no longer seek to do things ourselves, opting to utilize our computer based skills. We live in a culture constantly seeking to upgrade things, and this even means ourselves.

Are humans of the 21st Century cyborgs? Is the idea of the “natural body”, without the shaping and development that technology has had on contemporary bodies, an absurd one? According to Stelarc, an Australian performance artist, “The body is obsolete” (Shaw 2008, p81). Sharing this view, philosopher Bernard Stiegler also argues that “The human’, invents himself in the technical by inventing the tool - by becoming exteriorised techno-logically.” (Stiegler, 1998, p.141) 

 Michael Foucault builds on the idea of the “docile body” (Shaw 2008, p82) in his book “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison (1977)”. In his writings, he compares the  well disciplined army to “a well oiled machine” (Shaw 2008, p82). This means that all the parts are smoothly in effect only once the “individual parts have been tailored to fit an exact function” (Shaw 2008, p82). Thus the human body, and its material, are crafted via the dictation of governments, whom exercise their global power through the control of the soldiers bodies. Likewise, the soldiers themselves are also governed by the technologies of war, meaning that human and technology equal a soldier. A distinct comparison can also be made with the body of a worker and the regimes of industrial capitalism. According to Marx himself, “machinery is put to wrong use, with the object of transforming the workman, from his very childhood, into a part of a specialized machine” (Marx 1990 [1867], p.547)

Wiener offers the observation that “we are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves” (Wiener 1950, p96). DNA is essentially our bodies code, and information can be transmitted the same way that email is transmitted globally. As new media has now created a participatory audience and collective intelligence, is it any wonder that N. Katherine Hayles wrote “it is not for nothing that “Beam me up, Scotty” has become a cultural icon for the global information society” (Hayes 1999, p2)

Bibiliography

Shaw, D. (2008) “Technoculture: The Key Concepts’; (Oxford Berg Press)

Stiegler, B. (1998) ‘Technics and Time, 1: The fault of Epimetheus’; (Stanford: Stanford University Press)

Marx, K. (1990) “Capital: Volume 1: A Critique of Political Economy’; (Penguin Classics; Reprint edition)

N. Katherine Hayles (1999) “How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics”; (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London)

Technology and Us

Are we already cyborgs? in this modern age people interact with more technology than ever before and thanks to new forms of technology on the go e.g. I phone or the smart phone people are always linked to technology in some way or form. Stelarc suggests that ' human evolution is aided and determined by technology' (Shaw D,2008,p82)

Google class is the latest form of technology on the go. Google glass are a pair of glasses that can be worn on the go. These glasses come with many features but one of the most important ones is that it is linked directly to the internet and it itself could be seen as a computer. Figure 1 is an example of Google glass.

Figure 1

These shows that technology is becoming so advanced that it is already in front of us in every way but ti is also becoming even bigger and even more personal to us. this shows that Stelarc is right that the human body is becoming obsolete that are body's re becoming dependent on these technology's. 'Stelarc's work de-organizes the body by drawing attention to the way that technology extends, amplifies, invades and shapes contemporary body's'. (Shaw D,2008,p81)

This coincides with the next topic that is what could be? for one technology has advanced so far and at such a fast passes it shows no signs of slowing down. This also means that medical technology is not slowing down ether. medical technology has become so advanced that people with lost limbs can now have them back as if they were never gone in the first place. below is a link to a video of  the latest version of robotics that have been connected threw the nervasystem.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppILwXwsMng

bibliography/ webography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppILwXwsMng

Shaw, D. (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press

Is an age of cyborg's upon us?

Stelarc, an Australian performance artist introduces the theory that “the concept of ‘human’ is unthinkable without technology”, is aided by the example of William Harvey’s early seventeenth century circulatory system discovery which David Shaw discuss’ as “…our idea of what a fully functioning body is.’ He uses this complex idea of the use of technology to enable affection and examination of the body to illustrate the theory that without technology and adequate tools our understanding of how it works, development of the body and medical productions needed to keep it active would not be where it is today.

Michel Foucault believes that the human body is manipulated and changed in accordance to the technology it consumes, therefore believing technology is in control and can consume and discipline a person.

The constant bombardment of media imagery and enhanced technology create an ideological appropriation of fitness, health, gender, race and sexuality etc. People can allow this to discipline their being and can base their way of life around this creation, ultimately shaping and controlling who they are today.

“Control may take the form of exercises, punishments and regimes…” Shaw states this in relation to a well-disciplined soldier or army; however, this is evident in today’s society with the regimes of information technologies such as social networking sites, i.e. Facebook and Twitter etc. where consumers of these technologies are now being consumed by the technology itself, with examples of online identities and so on.

Cybernetics is defined by Shaw as “the relationship between a mechanism and its environment.”  It is overall a theory of the existing environment being ‘produced by’ positions of the body but also being the ‘producer of’ these.

When discussing this Shaw relates to human’s being the mechanism and New Media Technology being the environment. For example, the same way radio and television transmit sound and light patterns, due to DNA within the human body, humans to an extent transmit their own ideological ‘pattern’, open to manipulation and control by the surrounding, enhancing ‘environment’.

Wiener discusses these ‘patterns’ as ‘characterized activities’ produced by humans, which could be duplicated by machinery through mechanical feedback and could overall adapt to the idea of the machine age and cyborg bodies.

“They refer to the ideal body, which corresponds to a suitably organized mind, as ‘molar’.”

Overall, through human’s relationship with technology and the cultural consumption of today’s post-modern society it is evident that technology is both produced by and the producer of the human body. Both technology and humans coexist, but alongside this also depend on each other for feedback and feedforward to transmit and generate enhancements, however, with the enhancements of technology today, there is no doubt that a cyborg age is upon us. 

Bibliography 

SHAW, Debra (2008). Technoculture: the key concepts. Oxford, Berg Publishers.

Machines 'R' us

Stelarc is an Australian performance artist, who introduces the idea that technology plays a huge part of the evolution of human. (Shaw 2008, p.81) He states, ‘we have always been prosthetic bodies’, (Shaw 2008, p.81), and Stelarc was not the only one to have views such as this. Bernard Stiegler, a French philosopher, also thought that the notion of being human without the aid of technology is impossible, but ‘we act as if it is’. (Shaw 2008, p.81)

Michel Foucault considers in his book, Discipline and Punish:  The Birth of the Prison (1977), the ‘docile’ body in the example of a soldier. (Shaw 2008, p.82) He talks about how the soldier is part of a ‘well-oiled machine’. (Shaw 2008, p.82) It is manipulated and controlled but is ‘only achieved because the individual parts have been tailored to fit an exact function.’ (Shaw 2008, p.82) This is not dissimilar to the workers of industrial capitalism, where they are used and exploited. ‘The worker’s body is a commodity’ (Shaw 2008, p.83) according to Marx.

‘Nostalgia for the worker’s body is exploited in the service of eroticized consumption.’ (Shaw 2008, p.85) Foucault brings forward the idea that the capitalist consumers can buy fitness to be part of certain social classes in. Along with new ideas of what is found attractive and healthy, this has made it a want for a lot of our contemporary culture.

‘This body is socially produced.’ (Shaw 2008, p.94)

Cybernetics is ‘concerned with the control and communication and the relationship between a mechanism and its environment.’ (Shaw 2008, p.89) Shaw discusses the idea that the ‘body is both produced by and the producer of the environment in which it exists’. (Shaw 2008, p.101) Today the technological advances such as smart phones along with social networking sites help to create a culture which is constantly documenting every part of their lives. The technologies are part of us and as Shaw states, ‘we are, in effect, constantly “plugged in”’. (Shaw 2008, p.86) Because of this terms such as Citizen Journalism have come about.  Our culture can now see things that they have produced on things like the news and internet.

This technology could be seen as a threat to what we believe the word human to mean. Consumers can either see it to be an addition of the body where the body and technology work in accordance with each other.

The concept of the Body without Organs was thought of by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guarttari. It is an anti-Oedipal body which is thought to be the ideal body. (Shaw 2008, p.93) This body ‘forces us to question why we accept limits to how we understand our bodies’. (Shaw 2008, p.94) Through this exploration ‘we produce ourselves’. (Shaw 2008, p.94)

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Bibliography

SHAW, Debra (2008). Technoculture: the key concepts. Oxford, Berg Publishers.