The Desktop Metaphor

When Bolter (2000) explains the relationship between transparent immediacy, hypermediacy and remediation, one example returns several times. This is the example of the desktop metaphor. The Graphical User Interface of a computer's operating system is made to resemble a physical office, with folders, files, notepads, a trash bin and several other things that we find both in our real and in our virtual office. Creeber (2009, p.25) also talks about this metaphor as a cultural phenomenon, namely the second office revolution, being the digitization of the results of the first office revolution. However, he also refers explicitly to Bolter (2000) and the remediation rule.

According to Bolter (2000, pp.23-24) this desktop metaphor tries to elicit the feeling of transparent immediacy in the user, so that (s)he stops noticing the interface, but seems to be in a 'real' office, like the one (s)he and the computer may already be inside of. Of course this will not be perfect, because in a physical office one doesn't use a mouse to open a folder. However, as technology advances, more immediacy might be made possible, for example controlling the computer with nothing but thoughts, the "interfaceless interface" (Bolter, 2000, p.23).

On the other hand, Bolter (2000, pp.31-32) also sees the desktop metaphor in relation to hypermediacy. The different features and applications may refer to older media and strive for immediacy, but the "windowed style" gives the combination of these a new hypermedia experience, this way "the desktop interface does not erase itself" (Bolter, p.33). Maybe this way of working doesn't feel 'natural' (yet), but despite the loss of immediacy this still provides a successful interface.

After seeing the desktop metaphor as immediacy and hypermediacy, the remediation part of it is obvious. "This term refers to the idea that all new media (...) relies (sic) on one or more preceding medium, which it refashions or repurposes" (Barrow, 2010). For the desktop metaphor, these older media are the traditional office tools. So to conclude, the remediation that takes place in the desktop metaphor usually aims at immediacy, however perfect immediacy is impossible and the inevitable hypermediacy is not undesirable.

Bibliography
Barrow, T. (2010) Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation. Blog Time Barrow. 8 August. Available from: http://blog.timebarrow.com/2010/08/immediacy-hypermediacy-remediation/ [Accessed: 3 November 2013].
Bolter, J. D. (2002). Remediation: Understanding New Media new ed. MIT Press.
Creeber, G. (2009). DIGITAL THEORY: Theorizing New Media & Cubitt, D. (2009) Case Study: Digital Aesthetics in Ed. Creeber, G. & Royston, M. (2009) Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media; Maidenstone, Open University Press.