Bolter discuss the indication of computer interface and how society is able to interact with graphical user interface, as the ionic tools sure as buttons are starting to become more invisible. This indicates that this is not a real concern, with mass culture is growing up with these changes of interface the user adapt quickly. The fact is that society is aware of how to browse repeatedly throughout various transparent interfaces, without clear indication of navigation.
'Immediacy is supposed to make this computer interface "natural" rather than arbitrary." (Bolter, 2000, p.23)
Alberti's window theory is an opening window to allow the user to view the subject, for instance video games that are played on the Wii, acquires the user interacting with the virtual self. This is so user would interact with objects on screen the same way that they would in the real world, allowing the user to move natural around the interface through the platform, by controlling their own input from the controls. The games are noticeably assembled with programming although creating a cyberspace of ourselves, however the transparent interface leaves the user unsure of what is real.
'technology is taking people beyond and through the display screen into virtual world' (Rheingold, 2000, p.29)
As society involvement through new media which allows the user to be interacting all the time, through new devise such as mobile phones. Often such as paintings that are place in new digital format give raise on creating a different set of meaning through the convention of how the content is display. Therefore the content is not interpreted the same.
'the representation of one medium in another'(Bolter, 2000. p.45)
Jenkins discussion media convergence of 'multiple black boxes', number of devices that society access information, whereas Bolter view on how the user of the devices is able to interact to technology that the interface takes the user into the cyberspace that is much similar to the real world. New media such as second screen experience blurs the line of what is real and unreal, where the user can interact more with the characters' lives on primary text through various interaction interfaces that seem real.
'Media convergence is more than simply a technological shift' (Jenkins, 2006, p.15)
Bibliography
Bolter. J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed. MIT Press.
Jenkins. H . (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Revised. NYU Press.
Showing posts with label Bolter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bolter. Show all posts
Friday, 8 November 2013
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Immediacy media
"Virtual reality is immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear." (Bolter, 2000, p. 21)
Immediacy media is the attempt to try and convince the user of the technology that it is not a machine but is instead just a natural process of life. It attempts to hide any evidence that it is a machine doing different functions but is a living organism that can do what you want it to in the easiest possible way it can. It leads you into a false sense that it is not in fact going through designed programmes that it has been made to follow but instead, seamlessly does them as if it was breathing for you or I.
Furthermore other technologies such as smart phones we can also witness the seamless nature that we have become use to in our devices. With the touch screen that the majority of smartphones use today we can do whatever we want with just one swipe of out finger. As use the touch screen it feels a though the movements of our fingers on it is more natural than pressing a button. We now do not see it as a device but as an extension of ourselves.
"... ten years ago we thought of computers exclusively as numerical engines... we now think of them also as devices for generating images..." (Bolter, 2000, p. 23)
Computers now appear to us to be more like canvas' to create new pieces of art, instead of the powerful calculators that they originally were designed as. We begin to see them as creative tools that we can use to help express ourselves in new ways. We can use them to create pieces of art that appear to be as realistic as possible without having to use another piece of technology such as a camera to take a photograph with. Tecnology has evolved over the years to become more than a machine, it can now be seen as a brand new creative organism.
Bibliography:
Bolter, J. D., (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media, MIT Press
Immediacy media is the attempt to try and convince the user of the technology that it is not a machine but is instead just a natural process of life. It attempts to hide any evidence that it is a machine doing different functions but is a living organism that can do what you want it to in the easiest possible way it can. It leads you into a false sense that it is not in fact going through designed programmes that it has been made to follow but instead, seamlessly does them as if it was breathing for you or I.
Furthermore other technologies such as smart phones we can also witness the seamless nature that we have become use to in our devices. With the touch screen that the majority of smartphones use today we can do whatever we want with just one swipe of out finger. As use the touch screen it feels a though the movements of our fingers on it is more natural than pressing a button. We now do not see it as a device but as an extension of ourselves.
"... ten years ago we thought of computers exclusively as numerical engines... we now think of them also as devices for generating images..." (Bolter, 2000, p. 23)
Computers now appear to us to be more like canvas' to create new pieces of art, instead of the powerful calculators that they originally were designed as. We begin to see them as creative tools that we can use to help express ourselves in new ways. We can use them to create pieces of art that appear to be as realistic as possible without having to use another piece of technology such as a camera to take a photograph with. Tecnology has evolved over the years to become more than a machine, it can now be seen as a brand new creative organism.
Bibliography:
Bolter, J. D., (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media, MIT Press
Remediation, Hypermediacy and Immediacy
Bolter talks of remediation as new media keeping certain roots to its developed past. Remediation being "rivalry between the new media and the old" (Bolter, 2000 p.45) . Bolter suggests older mediums can be accessed through digitization on a computer screen but being transparent allowing the viewer to attempt to have the same experiences as they would with the original medium. Manovich argues that New Media is the digitization through numerical representation, modularity automation, variability and transcoding. If using Manovich's suggested principles of new media, Bolter couldn't argue his case for an original experience from an older media reprocessed on a new medium.
Having access to so many forms of media, from old to new, manifests into Hypermedia. An example would be through the use of new media technologies such as watching Television, Surfing the web and listening to music at the same time. Older mediums hympermediacy would be physical and representational through "stained glass, relief statuary, and inscriptions" (Bolter, 2000 p.34). Bolter also suggests we can see hypermedia within paintings much like a desktop of the computer. The example given is in Dutch "art of describing" being "absorbed and captured multiple media and multiple forms in oil. Much like the oil paintings, computers emphasis the idea of hypermedia, using multiple windows, and multiple recreations of images, pictures and paintings.
Taking from Debra Shaw's Technoculture, the idea that media creates ideologies through the development of technologies. Our hypermedia society we live in with the over crowded market of ideologies created by immediacy through the likes of musicians. Musicians such as Bruce Springsteen or Beyonce. Bruce Springsteen with his muscular but sensitive presence, and Beyonce with a strong feminine prowless. Like with the dutch oil paintings and technological advancements allowing corporations to go after ideologies "sought to satisfy this same desire" (Bolter, 2000 p.24). With digital technology it still uses the same immediacys although in a dffferent stance. Using the same connotations as we would use in everyday life, "Trash" or "Recycle Bin" for a digital files to be deleted, we put food and paper in to there respective trash cans or recycle bins.
Bibliography
Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press.
Shaw, D. (2008). Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press
Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. MIT Press.
Having access to so many forms of media, from old to new, manifests into Hypermedia. An example would be through the use of new media technologies such as watching Television, Surfing the web and listening to music at the same time. Older mediums hympermediacy would be physical and representational through "stained glass, relief statuary, and inscriptions" (Bolter, 2000 p.34). Bolter also suggests we can see hypermedia within paintings much like a desktop of the computer. The example given is in Dutch "art of describing" being "absorbed and captured multiple media and multiple forms in oil. Much like the oil paintings, computers emphasis the idea of hypermedia, using multiple windows, and multiple recreations of images, pictures and paintings.
Taking from Debra Shaw's Technoculture, the idea that media creates ideologies through the development of technologies. Our hypermedia society we live in with the over crowded market of ideologies created by immediacy through the likes of musicians. Musicians such as Bruce Springsteen or Beyonce. Bruce Springsteen with his muscular but sensitive presence, and Beyonce with a strong feminine prowless. Like with the dutch oil paintings and technological advancements allowing corporations to go after ideologies "sought to satisfy this same desire" (Bolter, 2000 p.24). With digital technology it still uses the same immediacys although in a dffferent stance. Using the same connotations as we would use in everyday life, "Trash" or "Recycle Bin" for a digital files to be deleted, we put food and paper in to there respective trash cans or recycle bins.
Bibliography
Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press.
Shaw, D. (2008). Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press
Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. MIT Press.
One to Another
"The representation of one medium in another" (Bolter, 2000 pg 45.) This is talking about the fact that we no longer just use are phone as a conventional ring and message it has now become our lives. We find ourselves not simply watching television we find ourselves watching it but also on our phones at the same time. It has come to the point where it just doesn't seem good enough to watch a television but that we now have to be on our phones checking Facebook or on twitter. We even find ourselves turned into cyborgs by the fact that we don't even read things on Facebook we find ourselves sitting there pointlessly scrolling.
We find that old media such as the television has been transformed as we can now interact with it bringing television from old media into the new media with the whole thought of second screens coming along but we find that second screening isn't enough any more as there is people out there who are trying to make a third or even fourth screen for us as become more and more active. 'At some point in the future we'll start thinking more strategically about the marketing value associated with a second or multi-screen content experience.' ( Forbes. 2012. The Big Problem with the Second Screen. [ONLINE] Available)
So we now find ourselves not happy with the conventional way of viewing but that we have to make our lives around phones and new media. Its like the fact when you are out with your friend you don't spend your unconditional attention to them but i bet that you are texting the whole time and eve on Facebook when you are with your friends. We never actually leave our phones down anymore. New media has took over society and culture as we know it.
Bibliography
Forbes. 2012. The Big Problem with the Second Screen. [ONLINE] Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmartin/2012/02/23/the-big-problem-with-the-second-screen/. [Accessed 06 November 13].
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
We find that old media such as the television has been transformed as we can now interact with it bringing television from old media into the new media with the whole thought of second screens coming along but we find that second screening isn't enough any more as there is people out there who are trying to make a third or even fourth screen for us as become more and more active. 'At some point in the future we'll start thinking more strategically about the marketing value associated with a second or multi-screen content experience.' ( Forbes. 2012. The Big Problem with the Second Screen. [ONLINE] Available)
So we now find ourselves not happy with the conventional way of viewing but that we have to make our lives around phones and new media. Its like the fact when you are out with your friend you don't spend your unconditional attention to them but i bet that you are texting the whole time and eve on Facebook when you are with your friends. We never actually leave our phones down anymore. New media has took over society and culture as we know it.
Bibliography
Forbes. 2012. The Big Problem with the Second Screen. [ONLINE] Available at http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmartin/2012/02/23/the-big-problem-with-the-second-screen/. [Accessed 06 November 13].
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
Virtual Reality
According to Bolter (2000, p.45), new digital media are characterized by remediation. Remediation denotes that a new medium stays connected with its older form in a certain manner. Although still defined in terms of its predecessor, each new medium promises an improvement by offering more transparency (Bolter, 2000, p.46). This implies that new media technology wants to offer an immediate experience in which there is a direct relationship between the user and the content of a medium (Bolter, 2000, p.24). This transparent and immediate experience is the goal of virtual reality.
Virtual reality relies on the principle of the Albertian window. Alberti wanted to achieve transparency in his paintings by using the linear perspective, which gave rise to a certain depth in his works (Bolter, 2000, p.24). The painting could be regarded as an open window through which the subject was seen. In this context, looking through is not similar to looking at, for example, a television. ‘Looking through’ can be found in the field of computer games, where it is now made possible to look through the eyes of a fictional character. Virtual reality wishes to go even further by trying to make the interface invisible e.g. virtual reality glasses such as The Oculus Rift. This device allows gamers to control the game through certain head movements, leading to greater immersion into the virtual world. The player has, as it were, jumped through Alberti’s window.
In this respect, being in a virtual environment is a ‘disembodied’ experience. The mind is completely immersed into a virtual world in which the body can be seen as obsolete (Shaw, 2008, p.81). However, virtual reality can simultaneously be understood as an embodied experience, since it feels ‘real’ to the user. Meredith Bricken (1990) states that “cyberspace participants interact directly with the virtuality to experience the embodiment of the application. This environment is ‘as if real’.” This embodiment can lead to what Biocca (1997) calls the cyborg’s dilemma:
“The more natural the interface the more “human” it is, the more it adapts to the human body and mind. The more the interface adapts to the human body and mind, the more the body and mind adapts to the non-human interface. Therefore, the more natural the interface, the more we become “unnatural,” the more we become cyborgs.”
Nevertheless, virtual reality has not yet achieved complete transparency due to obstructing elements. However, Erkki Huhtamo (1999, p.42) argues that “technology is gradually becoming a second nature, a territory both external and internalised, and an object of desire. There is no need to make it transparent any longer, simply because it is not felt to be in contradiction to the ‘authenticity’ of the experience.”
Bibliography
Biocca, F. (1997) The Cyborg's Dilemma: Progressive Embodiment in Virtual Environments, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(0).
Bricken, M. (1991). Virtual worlds: No interface to design. In M. Benedikt (Ed.),Cyberspace: First steps (pp. 363–382). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press.
Shaw, D. (2008). Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press
Virtual reality relies on the principle of the Albertian window. Alberti wanted to achieve transparency in his paintings by using the linear perspective, which gave rise to a certain depth in his works (Bolter, 2000, p.24). The painting could be regarded as an open window through which the subject was seen. In this context, looking through is not similar to looking at, for example, a television. ‘Looking through’ can be found in the field of computer games, where it is now made possible to look through the eyes of a fictional character. Virtual reality wishes to go even further by trying to make the interface invisible e.g. virtual reality glasses such as The Oculus Rift. This device allows gamers to control the game through certain head movements, leading to greater immersion into the virtual world. The player has, as it were, jumped through Alberti’s window.
In this respect, being in a virtual environment is a ‘disembodied’ experience. The mind is completely immersed into a virtual world in which the body can be seen as obsolete (Shaw, 2008, p.81). However, virtual reality can simultaneously be understood as an embodied experience, since it feels ‘real’ to the user. Meredith Bricken (1990) states that “cyberspace participants interact directly with the virtuality to experience the embodiment of the application. This environment is ‘as if real’.” This embodiment can lead to what Biocca (1997) calls the cyborg’s dilemma:
“The more natural the interface the more “human” it is, the more it adapts to the human body and mind. The more the interface adapts to the human body and mind, the more the body and mind adapts to the non-human interface. Therefore, the more natural the interface, the more we become “unnatural,” the more we become cyborgs.”
Nevertheless, virtual reality has not yet achieved complete transparency due to obstructing elements. However, Erkki Huhtamo (1999, p.42) argues that “technology is gradually becoming a second nature, a territory both external and internalised, and an object of desire. There is no need to make it transparent any longer, simply because it is not felt to be in contradiction to the ‘authenticity’ of the experience.”
Bibliography
Biocca, F. (1997) The Cyborg's Dilemma: Progressive Embodiment in Virtual Environments, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(0).
Bricken, M. (1991). Virtual worlds: No interface to design. In M. Benedikt (Ed.),Cyberspace: First steps (pp. 363–382). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bolter, J.D., (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media New Ed., MIT Press.
Shaw, D. (2008). Technoculture: The Key Concepts; Oxford Berg Press
The unnatural interface
Today's generation have developed and 'updated' alongside the computer screen interface. By learning the functions of the window interface from a young age, users integrate with the technology until the point where interaction becomes second nature. Debra Shaw notes this connection between the body and interface, "My computer and I constitute a cybernetic system"(Shaw, 2008,pg.90). How we automatically know when to click, scroll, drag, how to search and select the content we want though the interface design, " making the interfaces "transparent" and therefore more "natural""(Bolter, 2000,pg.32). Through constant "contact with the interface" the user "learns to read, just as she would read any hypertext", the language and shared knowledge that makes up the interface experience (Bolter, 2000,pg.33)
This however identifies that though we are automated within the technological interface, we are aware it is unnatural. The "obviously mediated" functionality of the interface, the buttons, the links, the irritating Microsoft animated paperclip clearly defines the computer window from the real world. The interface is constricted by the physicality of the technological medium it is contained in. Although this lack of "the real" only furthers our desires for "immediacy", as mediation "tries to reproduce the rich sensorium of human experience" (Bolter, 2000,pg.34). There is a constant negotiation of the "visual space as mediated and as "real", a conflict between the surface and the deeper cultural meaning (Bolter, 2000,pg.41). A real life example is that of as the Disney World theme park, where fictional media content clashes with physical reality.
As Huthtamo notes "hypermediacy can also provide an authentic experience", the audience may acknowledge the unnaturalness of the medium and yet it doesn't diminish the experience (Bolter, 2000,pg.42). This is illustrated in the rise of online worlds such as "WoW" (World Of Warcraft), although the game is obviously constructed through programming and is contained within the material screen of the medium. Users still recognise it as an authentic experience, some have argued that the line between reality and the game interface has been blurred by the users "point of view". Shaw notes how we try to escape "the meat", our body's through cyberspace but we can't yet escape the reality of the medium (Shaw, 2008,pg.86).
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
Shaw, D, (2008) Technoculture: The key Concepts (Oxford: Berg Press)
This however identifies that though we are automated within the technological interface, we are aware it is unnatural. The "obviously mediated" functionality of the interface, the buttons, the links, the irritating Microsoft animated paperclip clearly defines the computer window from the real world. The interface is constricted by the physicality of the technological medium it is contained in. Although this lack of "the real" only furthers our desires for "immediacy", as mediation "tries to reproduce the rich sensorium of human experience" (Bolter, 2000,pg.34). There is a constant negotiation of the "visual space as mediated and as "real", a conflict between the surface and the deeper cultural meaning (Bolter, 2000,pg.41). A real life example is that of as the Disney World theme park, where fictional media content clashes with physical reality.
As Huthtamo notes "hypermediacy can also provide an authentic experience", the audience may acknowledge the unnaturalness of the medium and yet it doesn't diminish the experience (Bolter, 2000,pg.42). This is illustrated in the rise of online worlds such as "WoW" (World Of Warcraft), although the game is obviously constructed through programming and is contained within the material screen of the medium. Users still recognise it as an authentic experience, some have argued that the line between reality and the game interface has been blurred by the users "point of view". Shaw notes how we try to escape "the meat", our body's through cyberspace but we can't yet escape the reality of the medium (Shaw, 2008,pg.86).
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
Shaw, D, (2008) Technoculture: The key Concepts (Oxford: Berg Press)
Are we too far to turn back?
Bolter, speaks of remediation in terms of technology and uses this to make examples. This is something which is not seen as much with theorists such as Jenkins or Manovich. So taking what Bolter is saying about technological mediation, I want to look at how this would transfer into the way our society and culture looks at remediation and how we accept that along side technological advances.
Bolter says remediation is "the representation of one medium in another" (Bolter, 2000: 45). So this is taking one media form, the example he uses is paintings and photography, and representing them in another, digital picture galleries.
When reading through Bolters work, I couldn't help but draw parallels between this and the Convergence Culture which Henry Jenkins writes about (Jenkins, 2008). Although Jenkins talk about the formation of multiple mediums into one.
"By convergence, I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms" (Jenkins, 2008, p2)
Inline with Bolter's writing, these "multiple media platforms" would show representation of their Old Media forms in this New Media platform. How we can stand beside the Mona Lisa painting and either take a photo of it or download a photo of it will just never be the same.
I came across a video shared on Facebook which outlines how mobile phones have taken over the human existence. Its portrayals different events where humans are on their phones or video recording a gig, when they would enjoy it much more if they didn't use their phone
Its shows the convergence and remediation of going to a concert (Old Media) and capturing it on video (New Media) even though you may never watch it again.
Remediation is really in the advancement of technology, but this advancement can often be for the worst. We can get so engaged in finding ways to interact with the media easier that we start to lose the sense of our own human beings. Soon they will be lost in cyberspace, forever
Bibliography
Jenkins, H., 2008. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Revised., NYU Press.
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
CharstarleneTV, (2013) I forgot my phone [Online Video] 22 August. Available from; <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8> [Accessed: 6 November 2013].
Bolter says remediation is "the representation of one medium in another" (Bolter, 2000: 45). So this is taking one media form, the example he uses is paintings and photography, and representing them in another, digital picture galleries.
When reading through Bolters work, I couldn't help but draw parallels between this and the Convergence Culture which Henry Jenkins writes about (Jenkins, 2008). Although Jenkins talk about the formation of multiple mediums into one.
"By convergence, I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms" (Jenkins, 2008, p2)
Inline with Bolter's writing, these "multiple media platforms" would show representation of their Old Media forms in this New Media platform. How we can stand beside the Mona Lisa painting and either take a photo of it or download a photo of it will just never be the same.
I came across a video shared on Facebook which outlines how mobile phones have taken over the human existence. Its portrayals different events where humans are on their phones or video recording a gig, when they would enjoy it much more if they didn't use their phone
Its shows the convergence and remediation of going to a concert (Old Media) and capturing it on video (New Media) even though you may never watch it again.
Remediation is really in the advancement of technology, but this advancement can often be for the worst. We can get so engaged in finding ways to interact with the media easier that we start to lose the sense of our own human beings. Soon they will be lost in cyberspace, forever
Bibliography
Jenkins, H., 2008. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide Revised., NYU Press.
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
CharstarleneTV, (2013) I forgot my phone [Online Video] 22 August. Available from; <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINa46HeWg8> [Accessed: 6 November 2013].
The Immediacy Illusion
As Bolter
states in his book Remediation: Understanding New Media, linear perspective
plays a significant role to achieve immediacy (Bolter, 2000, pp. 24-25). With
old media, such as painting, an author should be able to reproduce the space
beyond the surface of his “image”. For the spectator of any of these Albertian
windows, a paradox arises. Through the use of a linear perspective, which is
similar for the way we observe the world in our everyday lives, one could get
the feeling of being present in the world beyond the canvas. This three
dimensional feeling is exactly what the author wants to achieve, but the truth
is that the setting still is shown in a 2D manner (on the painting itself). Also
for new media, such as digital photography, the photograph on itself is just a
momentary take of endless space, presented on one (flat) object. This
realization is to be stated as hypermediacy (Bolter, 2000, pp. 31-44), and this
bridge is one no one could ever cross, leaving us with the realization that
immediacy as a concept is an illusion (Bolter, 2000, pp. 45-46). Furthermore,
the second technique to achieve transparency is through erasing the surface of
any base (Bolter, 2000, p. 25). Here too, the immediacy illusion comes to
light: on the one hand by an artist never being able to fully effaces the
surface, and on the other by making the spectator aware of the author as having
as skill to erase, and thereby supporting hypermediacy and debunking immediacy
(Bolter, 2000, p. 25).
The general conclusion becomes then that the ways to achieve immediacy, invalid their own underlying truth. Inherent to their own logic, they make us realize that no one could ever achieve it. Hypermediacy and immediacy can be seen as two ends of a continuum, whereby one is never able to reach the immediacy end. The hypermediacy end however, one is able to achieve, as ‘absolute hypermediacy’ is when the spectator is fully aware of the medium.
Bibliography
Bolter, J. D., & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media Ed. MIT Press.
The general conclusion becomes then that the ways to achieve immediacy, invalid their own underlying truth. Inherent to their own logic, they make us realize that no one could ever achieve it. Hypermediacy and immediacy can be seen as two ends of a continuum, whereby one is never able to reach the immediacy end. The hypermediacy end however, one is able to achieve, as ‘absolute hypermediacy’ is when the spectator is fully aware of the medium.
Bibliography
Bolter, J. D., & Grusin, R. (2000). Remediation: Understanding New Media Ed. MIT Press.
Remediation Is New Media
Remediation is, according to Bolter, the term used to describe "the representation of one medium in another" (2000 pp. 45). To clarify this he goes on to give a fairly easy to understand example by discussing DVD picture galleries. In doing this, he raises an interesting point in that they are essentially "digitised paintings or photographs" (ibid.). This is interesting because, along with his description of remediation, we can see implicit links when talking about Manovich and his work on New Media. Furthermore, by referring to remediation as being "a defining characteristic of the new digital media" (ibid.) we can again, unquestionably, relate this to Manovich.
Another characteristic of New Media associated, perhaps even more overtly, with Bolter's idea of remediation, is transcoding which is described by Manovich as a process which "turns media into computer data" (2001 pp.63). This can be clearly seen in analysing Bolter's example, given that the physical paintings/photographs have had to be transcoded to be able to appear in the digital galleries on the DVD.
In relation to Jenkins, then, this process of taking the physical pictures and digitising them for use in a DVD picture gallery is a clear example of the fact that we live in a convergence culture, where "old and new media collide" (Jenkins, 2006 pp.2) and how easy "the flow of content across multiple media platforms" (ibid.) has become.
Numerical representation is Manovich's first characteristic of New Media, and decrees that "all new media objects... are composed of digital code" (Manovich, 2001 pp.49). We can argue here then that Bolter's cleverly chosen example candidly alludes to this, as the new media objects in this case are the digitised paintings/photographs in the picture galleries.
Another characteristic of New Media associated, perhaps even more overtly, with Bolter's idea of remediation, is transcoding which is described by Manovich as a process which "turns media into computer data" (2001 pp.63). This can be clearly seen in analysing Bolter's example, given that the physical paintings/photographs have had to be transcoded to be able to appear in the digital galleries on the DVD.
In relation to Jenkins, then, this process of taking the physical pictures and digitising them for use in a DVD picture gallery is a clear example of the fact that we live in a convergence culture, where "old and new media collide" (Jenkins, 2006 pp.2) and how easy "the flow of content across multiple media platforms" (ibid.) has become.
Bolter, J.D. (2000) Remediation: Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
Jenkins, H (2006) Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (NYU Press)
Manovich, L. (2001) The Language of New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
Manovich, L. (2001) The Language of New Media (Cambridge, Mass.; London: MIT Press)
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.
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