Immediacy and Virtual Reality

Immediacy is a quality that enables the user of a medium to feel as if they are participating and controlling the story or the actions even though they are not actually involved; instead they are involved in a "virtual reality".

Bolter and Grusin argue that the aim of New Media is to create interactive technologies that remove their presence from the viewer, creating a virtual reality that is indistinguishable from the reality.

This virtual reality feels extremely realistic due to the "transparent interface" which Bolter claims attempts to "erase itself" causing the user to deny his confrontation to the medium and consequently, the user feels involved. (Bolter: 2000: pg. 24) Another sense of virtual reality could be the emotions that one encounters while watching a movie that engages greatly with its audience, allowing them to experience the same emotions as the characters on screen where the viewer may cry.

In other words, the psychological state that is generated by immediacy is that the viewer is under the impression that the medium no longer exists, and that he/she is participating in the event. The viewer is authentically experiencing the matter, in his beliefs, as reality. Hodges states that "the viewer should forget that she is in fact wearing a computer interface and accept the graphic image that it offers as her own visual world." ( Hodges: 1994: pg. 22)

Bolter claims that "virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear". (Bolter: 2000: pg. 22) We enter virtual reality as we interact with technology, for example video games. Through this interactivity, we can experience things beyond our imagination, for example, like Jaron Lanier suggests, one can "visit the world of the dinosaur, then become a Tyrannosaurus. Not only can you see DNA, you can experience what it's like to be a molecule". (Bricken: 1991: 372) 

REFERENCE:

Bolter, J,  2000,  Remediation: Understanding New Media pg. 20-50

Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Remediation

In the first chapter, the authors Bolter and Grusin mention immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation. Appropriately, they offer up that they make no assertion that any of these three concepts are universal truths. Instead they are practices of certain groups at specific times. "We do not claim that Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Remediation are universal or aesthetic truths; rather, we regard them as practices of specific groups in specific times." (Bolter 2000, pg:22)

I would like to focus on the concept of Transparent Immediacy. First I think we need to understand the two concepts separately to gain better understanding of the both together. Transparency refers to the goal of interface designers and developers to make a '"interfaceless" interface'(Bolter 2000, pg:23) This meaning to make it so natural in its feel and look it eases itself on the user. The goal is "to foster in the viewer a sense of presence; the viewer should forget that she is in fact wearing a computer interface and accept the graphic image that it offers as her own visual world (Hodges et al. 1994)" (Bolter 2000, pg:20). Take pilots in training to fly an aircraft, the point of the virtual spaces is to make the whole procedure seem real in every way, the reason for this is that although the student pilot is not actual thousands of feet in the air he/she must feel like they are to gain a benefit from the training in order to attain a pilots license. On the other hand, not all transparent immediacy has such a positive outcome and can result in the user becoming so immersed that they lose their sense of reality.

Immediacy is the users’ reference for immediacy in access as well as interaction and understanding. In other words, the users want an instant connection with the medium. “The automatic or deferred quality of computer programming promotes in the viewer a sense of immediate contact with the image” (Bolter 2000, pg:28). Bolter is saying here that when a person/user is in use of the video to converse with another, they have an equivalent or better sense of this immediate contact, accept with the individual that appears in the virtual reality world. 

My understanding of transparent immediacy is a person that removes themselves so that the user is no conscious that they are confronting a medium, but stands in an immediate relationship to the contents of that medium. 

Bibliography:

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

Image available at:

http://www.aviationnews.eu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ATR-pilot-trainer.jpg

 

 

Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Re-mediation

"Virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear"(Bolter, 2000, PG. 22)

With this statement and the other text, I have gathered that this means that with users engaging in virtual reality, they have 'disappeared' from their daily lives and are now far more interacted with whatever virtual reality they have chosen. as each viewer of gamer has been given a 'identity' as such when playing as a character, they can become far more emerged in the game play. it gives me the understanding that virtual reality should come as close to real life as possible.

As far as being immersive goes, this story (http://kotaku.com/i-played-the-oculus-rift-for-five-hours-straight-987568701/999890560) tells of a man who was so immersed in reality game play that he had actually forgotten he was in his living room at the time. he said there was even a point when in the game, a character jumped into 'his' warms, he actually raised his arms to catch her. This gives me the impression that this virtual reality game play can be a far more endearing means of engaging yourself with game play.

"The transparent interface is one more manifestation of the need to deny the mediated character of digital technology altogether"(Bolter,2000,PG.24)

I understand that for many of these virtual reality gamers, they are using the computer as a way of surpassing other technologies to bring their view of the world into different realities. In the sense of computers graphics, they have came a long way , but also so has the graphics for Television and even photography. Are they saying that these computer generated graphics are going to surpass older technologies? Hopefully not, because these older technologies such as Television have certain gains with people to engage them with their own 'virtual reality'. people can be immersed with Television just as a gamer can be with the newest shoot-em-up game.



References - Bolter, 2000 -  Remediation: Understanding New Media 

A Faceless Virtual Reality

At the very start of this chapter Bolter and Grusin throw down the disclaimer that these three concepts are not universal truths.

"We do not claim that Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Remediation are universal or aesthetic truths; rather, we regard them as practices of specific groups in specific times." (Bolter: 2000, pg 22)

The concept of Immediacy is something that points towards a user having immediacy access with a medium and also with their desire to interact with this medium. Basically users want a more immediate connection with this medium and feel that they are a part of it and connected with it. When Bolter talks about Immediacy he talks about Transparent Immediacy, to understand this fully we take each word separately. When Bolter says transparent he refers to the goal of developers and interface designers where they strive to make a Interfaceless Interface.

"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)

There are a few different mediums in which a user can feel connected to something, for example a user can be watching a television show, reading a book or playing a video game and they well get this connection with a character and they feel as if they are in the situation with them and feel what they are feeling and react in an emotional way, this is a sense of Immediacy. But the biggest medium form that allows a user to feel connect and involved is Virtual Reality. The purpose of Virtual Reality is to bring the user into an environment and allow them to interact in a real or physical way. This sort of interactivity with the user is achieved with providing the user with a faceless interface in which it tries to deceive the user from believing they are interacting with a medium to achieve this reality.

"Virtual Reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear" (Bolter: 2000, pg 22)

Bibliography:

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

Websites:

Barrow. T 2010 - Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Remediation