New Media as a Cyborgian Encounter.

"The human invents himself in the technical by inventing the tool -by becoming exteriorised techno-logically" (Stiegler :1998: 141) Bernard Stielger argues the reliability of humans on technology is unquestionable and that technology contributes to the formation of the humans.
 

Indeed, our society is becoming increasingly dependent on technology to complete and carry out daily tasks, regardless to its simplicity.
 

The term 'cyborg' refers to the idea of the incorporation of technology and humans. According to Donna Haraway, " A Cybrog is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality and of fiction". (Haraway: A Cybrog manifesto: 1991)
 

Stelarc argues that "we have always been prosthetic bodies", which means that instead of our ideology which refers technology an 'opposition' or 'adjunct' to the body, it should be contemplated as a factor of it's ontology. ( Shaw : 2008 : pg. 81)
 

New Media therefore can be regarded as a cyborigan encounter. New Media is usually recognized as 'technological' or 'digitalized' media, becoming inaccessible without the presence of technological devices while cybrog represents the relationship between humans and technology.

 

 

The wide accessibility of New Media means we can access anything anytime and anywhere. I find the mobile phones a great example, which we use in our daily routines to carry out many different tasks. Thanks to the convergence of the phone, people carry their diaries/planners/calendars on their phones and if in its absence, the user may feel lost and find it difficult to continue with their daily affairs, illustrating the human dependence on technology. (Jenkins: 2006: pg5)
 

 

Shaw refers to the example of 'dead bodies and live machines' (Shaw: 2008: pg. 94), which speaks about how the actress in the spanish movie, hable con ella (talk to her) was in a coma and only kept alive by machines, demonstrating the integration between technology and humans. Another more obvious example of human/technology integration I find is apple's siri on the iPhones and iPads (forms of new media) communicating with the user vocally to receive orders and reply. It can even have a conversation with the user (to a certain level).

Fig. 1
Iphone's feature 'SIRI' communicates with it's user

 

References:

Haraway, Donna J (1991) A Cybrog Manifesto

Shaw, D (2008) Technoculture: The Key Concepts.

Jenkins, H (2006) Convergence Culture Where Old and New Media Collide: Introduction "Worship at the Altar of Convergence"

Images:

Fig 1:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/04/apple-brings-siri-voice-control-to-iphone/
*available on 30/10/2013*