It seems like ever since I took my first undergraduate Rhetoric class that word has infiltrated every aspect of humanity—my professor in that class proposed that fundamental distinction of being human comes from communication, discourses framed within much broader narratives through which we arrive at understanding. To me, these readings reassert that notion by describing remediation, which is perception that emerging media technologies are engaged in a constant dialogue with past ones. Bolter and Grusin’s example of the Wire and how it is “not like TV only better” encapsulates this dialogue, and as usual I used my own personal experiences growing up with video games to understand how truly applicable remediation is. Is there any other medium (assuming for a moment that we can separate any of today’s media, since B&G suggest that “no media can function independently anymore”) that has such a short but rapid evolutionary timeline as that of video games ? Its history fits so neatly within the span of just a few decades, quite a few of which happen to be my own developmental years, making it easy to chart its evolution and for a single individual to actually remember experiencing every step of that process (which becomes more difficult for that of television, quite difficult for cinema, increasingly unlikely for photography and certainly impossible for music). New gaming technologies are constantly described in terms of old ones—new consoles have “better graphics,” sleeker designs and superior functionality; they spur their own development forward by engaging in remediation.
It is interesting that, although media attempt to make themselves invisible by achieving immediacy through interfaces, we often develop a connection to the interfaces themselves so that they become the very thing by which we remember our experiences. The example given by Buxton in Sketching User Experiences involves Steve Jobs and the Apple brand; the iPod timeline in particular pays careful attention to the subject of interfaces. Looking at the device’s design progression (54-63) I experienced distinct sensations of interfacing with each phase; I remember the first time I experienced the non-moving scroll wheel and how I had to get used to the various button placements, and I think this is because the interface becomes integrated with the user—its purpose is, after all, to offer humans access to an extension of themselves. When we get used to the motions and rituals of interfacing they become as much a part of our reflex system as walking. Perhaps that is why the sight of an interface seems to evoke sensations resembling the experiences they help facilitate; its also why, for me, the below chart functions as a sort of interface experience histogram and reminds me of the many devices through which I have channeled my willpower over the years.
No comments:
Post a Comment