October 22, 2012

The Virtual Reality Game

I found Bolter and Grusin's piece on "Ubiquitous Computing" to be one of the most interesting readings in the class thus far. Not only was it informative in a concise way, it dealt with a subject more relevant in today's society. "Ubiquitous Computing" deals with the world of virtual reality and the differences between what they call "augmented reality" and "telepresence." Augmented reality "replaces the physical world with a simulacrum" (214), while telepresence "brings the physical world into the virtual environment" (214). Doctors employ medical telepresence when they use technology to "fly through a computer reconstruction of the patient's insides." (214). Bolter and Grusin cover many of the questions that have been raised in class regarding text/uality. While they don't necessarily define what is a text, they definitely take into account the importance of the text's medium when being interpreted by an audience.

I decided to check out the e-book version of the text the first time I read this piece. I was able to log in to my FSU Libraries account perfectly fine, and the pages were easy to find and read. When I went back to re-read this morning however, the text was "in use" and I had to use the pdf version instead. The fact this text exists in many different mediums is proof enough that discourse and the mediums by which we read those discourses is constantly changing. Changing according to what? Technology. Our nation's obsession with new-age technology and the faster, more convenient way of doing things is the driving force behind how we read and interpret a text. I personally don't like to read a text from the computer screen because I have a harder time remember what I just read without the opportunity to make notes on the page, but there any many people that would prefer to never have to open a book again. The differences in reading/learning preference among humans is vast; thus, for a text to keep up with our fast-past technological society, the text must me remediated to fit a way array of mediums. Discourse changes in accordance with technology's advancements. I'm interested to see where this will take us in the future. 

1 comment:

Nicola Wood said...

I think that the way you defined ubiquitous computing was very clear and concise, and I also like the point that you brought up about the text being available in both PDF and E-book forms. I hadn't even thought about how that answers one of our reading questions, about "why discourses are constantly changing" and "why we can never be happy with a current discourse." Clearly every person has different needs, and we need multiple forms of discourse to meet these peoples needs and solve issues (sometimes before they even arise). I, too, am interested in seeing what other kinds of discourse await us in the future.

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