Thoughts on Remediation

We try to make connections so we can understand and communicate with others. Media is tool for doing this. We take our human perspective and layer it onto the things we know, what we do, the things we see, the way we understand the world and those around us. We try to create that which has meaning and connect a relationship to something or someone within our world. We use all of these methods, immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation using media to feel life at its fullest. We are in a world full of others, trying to grow, live and experience life. Our culture, lifestyles, privileges, and sometimes limitations dictate the evolution of our use of media and the action we take with it. It is a tool. What we do with it seems to continually expand and grow like an living organism. We seek constant stimulation but yet wish to remain at a distance.

Immediacy is the “contact point between the medium and what it represents” (Bolter), like the moment we saw the light hit the storm clouds and the many colors of the storm remind us of a painting or a photograph. We take that image and make a song, video, or photo of it to fulfill something within us.

Hypermediacy is experiencing the moment as it occurs, with as many possible media elements as imaginable. “Hypermediacy like other media since the Renaissance –perspective painting, photography, film, and TV, new digital media oscillate between immediacy and hypermediacy, between transparency and opacity.” (Bolter) Here is an example: Patrick Swayze dies at 57. I see this news flash on the screen as I write this. I am listening to the sound of the TV, reading Facebook messages from friends, checking out Yahoo news…I see it, his picture instantly… he has died, he is gone and the news is now old. I remember him, his movies and publicized moments in his professional life. It is as if he were part of our family as we connect that point of reference with him to us. Yet we never really knew him as a man. He was just a character in the media. This is how media can saturate your life. Someone who you don’t even know can pass away and leave a mark in your life.

We are saturated, continually bombarded with media. Moving from moment to moment faster, quicker, with all senses stimulated - involved yet we are detracted. Connected by the media but tactilely detached. That is why I think we desire Virtual Reality. We want the contact without the actual consequence. We want the control without the responsibility.

We can create, paint, draw, write, participate by watching a movie, cry, become emotionally involved and then instantly remove ourselves. We are part of a disposable age. We consume, become bored and discard. We desire more, bigger, faster, and better. New camera, new phone, new GPS, to get us there and stay connected while we are there. The virtual world with digital components allows us to create that which pushes the boundaries of our human capabilities.

We can be immersed in something yet maintain a distance. We can be the object of the gaze, detest it, desire it, or see from the perspective of the viewer (gazer). We assume a point of view through different forms of media, see through the eyes of the protestors of the September 12th march on the Capitol, or hear the viewpoint of a film critique from the Toronto Film Festival. We can ride along with the video crew or follow the Tour de France using twitter or text messages and see photos and video from a phone operated by a relative who is actually there following the race. All of this is possible. And we are morphing continually as we find new ways to track, report, capture, and communicate what we see, feel, hear, smell and perceive.

Even music can be composed without instruments. I can download free software (Audacity) with synthesized sounds (Freesound) to create my own pieces of music without even knowing how to play and instrument. It may not be good but who cares? It is disposable.

I guess that is the transparent immediacy of it all. Like a photograph, you are there and connect with the medium. You put yourself into it, but the moment is no longer there. It is gone the moment the image it made. Even TV tonight…the huge production of Michael Jackson’s key moments in music, his dance and his video on the music awards. He was here and now he is gone, the moment is gone, the production is gone. We may talk about it with others tomorrow and remember the event of tonight, but the visual images, sound, and production of the moment into our homes in high definition, is over. We can buy them but he was never be here again. It was a moment, a connection, an illusion and now he is gone.

Finally remediation is not trying to improve on some one thing that was but building on many, merging and combining what was and continuing forever and ever to create new media forms – morphing into something new.

These are all topic discussed in Bolter’s book, Remediation. This is our culture, our life, our living art form.

In the Night

Sometime late at night or early morning, I awaken. The house is quiet. No one is awake but me. I am alone with my thoughts. The dog stirs. She looks at me with those dark knowing eyes.
This is the time when I must face the truth. All that is real presents it's ugly face to me. Clarity. I see all the petty nonsense from the previous day. I hate this time. I love this time. When the reality of all that has occurred during the day is relived. I can see clearer now. Facades come down. I am naked to myself. Exposed. Real. It is ok. This is the time when I can take a look at who I really am. Evaluate, reflect, refine my thoughts. Burn away the layer of vanity, false sense of security, and let my guard down. Let myself be ok with not knowing what tomorrow will bring. It is ok to fear. It is ok to be unsure. It is ok to know that you don't have it all together. It is ok. Because no one really does. You just are. That is all there is and it is ok. Now I can rest. I can let it all go. I look at my dog. She lays at my feet. She closes her big dark eyes as if saying to me rest and I do. It is only then that I submit and sleep.