Transparent Immediacy & Virtual Reality

"Virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium who purpose is to disappear. This disappearing act, however , is made difficult by the apparatuses that virtual reality requires" (Bolter, 2000, p.22). Bolter talks here of transparent immediacy, this transparency refers to the way the designers of such technologies make them an almost interfaceless interface, a piece of technology with no recognizable electronic tools often used by conventional media platforms. Immediacy refers to the users desire for immediate access to interact and understand the medium. Bolter states that with this technology the user will move through this virtual space interacting with the objects naturally in the same way they would in the physical world.
(Bolter, 2000, p. 23)

Active participation within a world which they control makes the user feel truly involved. Bolter states "The transparent interface is one more manifestation of the need to deny the mediated character of digital technology altogether" (Bolter, 2000, p.24). Users do not simply want to use technology to participate but to fell as if their own actions are making a difference, that they are engaging with the content. For example a viewer is not simply watching a film so much as that are emotionally connecting with the characters in the film, these characters have meaning the viewer wishes to identify themselves with. "A transparent interface would be one that erases itself, so that the user is no longer aware of confronting a medium, but instead stands in an immediate relationship to the contents of that medium". (Bolter, 2000, p.24)

These interfaceless interfaces are at work in modern day society in a variety of ways. Developers seek to immerse consumers in open ended worlds filled with unique experiences without the constraints of technology holding them back. Microsoft has made an attempt at this with thier 'Kinect' add-on for Xbox. The Kinect removes the need for a traditional controller and instead places the user as the controller, allowing them to use their body to dictate whats happens on screen. Another attempt at manufacturing this 'Virtual Reality' comes in the form of the Oculus Rift. The rift is a virtual realty headset which truly immerses the user in the world which they are viewing. The user forgets that they are here in a physical sense and instead exist on a virtual plane, blurring the lines between our physical bodies and virtual identities.

Bibliography
Bolter, J., 2000. Remediation: Understanding New Media. [Online]
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[Accessed 4th November 2013]