The relationship between Transparent Immediacy and Virtual Reality

The aim of virtual reality is to merge seamlessly into the users real life. It's efforts to be as undetectable as possible, "means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear." (Bolter: 2000, 21) This immediacy can only truly be represented through total invisibility. 

Bolter states that in Hollywood, the stuntman is increasingly being replaced by digital compositing, to fulfil the desire for immediacy. He even argues that eventually the actors will themselves be replaced too. Much of the time it is hard for the viewer to distinguish between what is CGI and what is not. The computer desktop is another everyday reflection of the integration between real life and virtual reality. Whilst several decades ago, a physical office would have contained files, folders and a waste-basket, Bolter points out that today, this has been replaced completely by virtual counterparts, yet they are used in the exact same way. 

Transparent immediacy does not have to be found solely in high-tech, computer generated simulations. Contrary, it can be witnessed in more traditional mediums, demonstrating that we have been moving towards indistinguishable virtual reality for centuries. Classical paintings can demonstrate this. Theorist Alberti argues that he could draw a simple rectangle on a canvas, and still have the viewer transported beyond the image and into the subject that it is conveying. Bryson mentions how in the nineteenth century, artists would try to erase their brush stokes to attempt to 'hide' the fact that the picture was an artificial creation. 

What designers continue to strive for is an "Interfaceless interface," (Bolter: 2000, 23) effectively ridding the display of any trace of the typical elements to be expected of a virtual interface. The user will interact with simulations as if they would their real life counterpart.  This will create an immediate relationship with the simulation. Transparent immediacy will allow us to smoothly integrate out lives alongside the technology we use, regardless of the implications. Luxury lifestyle items like the Oculus Rift and Google Glasses are already making that a reality. In the future, we may be wholly unable to distinguish between what is real and what is not. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Bolter, J | 2000 | Remediation: Understanding of New Media | MIT Press 

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]
Available at: https://learning.ulster.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fcontent%2FcontentWrapper.jsp%3Fcontent_id%3D_1811421_1%26displayName%3DLinked%2BFile%26course_id%3D_62517_1%26navItem%3Dcontent%26attachment%3Dtrue%26href%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Flearning.ulster.ac.uk%252Fbbcswebdav%252Fpid-1811421-dt-content-rid-4330030_1%252Fxid-4330030_1
[Accessed 4th November 2013]

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

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