Transparent Immediacy

When describing transparent immediacy, Bolter and Gusin state that “Virtual reality is immersive, which means that is a medium whose purpose is to disappear” (Bolter: 2000, pg 22) This shows that virtual reality aims to be as transparent as possible so that the user makes the technology apart of their body. In this text, the authors state that creators of technology strive to to make “virtual reality should come as close as possible to our daily experience” (Bolter: 2000,pg 22) One example of technology doing this would be ‘Google Glass’. Google Glass is described as a wearable computer that we can wear 24/7 and make it a new addition to our human body. Although still shaped like a pair of glasses, this piece of technology is the best example of transparent immediacy as of yet. If in 2013, Google Glass can produce a piece of technology that will change how people work, eat, and interact with others it makes us wonder how far can this product grow and develop and in the near future all it could be is a contact lense that turns the human into a cyborg like character.

 "in this sense, a transparent interface would be one that erases its self, 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, pg 23-24)

 Another example of how virtual reality is incorporated into our lives is video games such as The Sims. We all have a curiosity and desire to see what its like living a completely different life and games like The Sims allows to do so. The freedom and opportunity to do what we want do gives the user a thrill and an escape from everyday life. This effect doesn’t just happen with the state of the art video games as Rheingold states “It is remarkable how easily a player can project herself into a computer game” (Bolter: 2000, pg 29) We ourselves have control over this technology but we choose to let the technology to control us. As Bolter states ‘the marvelling could not have happened unless the logic of immediacy has a hold on the viewers” (Bolter: 2000, pg 31)

Bibliography:

Bolter. D and Grusin. R (2000) - Remediation: Understanding New Media