Ubiquitous Computing

Does the world that Bolter and Grusin described already exist even further in today's culture? The world of augmented reality and electronic devices interacting with us was a figment of our imaginations several years ago. Though Bolter and Grusin predicted that this electronic revolution would take place, to Bolter and Grusin this has already occurred, but in today's world we may have gone into the overkill realm. The idea of medical telepresence and teleoperators is happening today when people hit the age of 50 and receive a colonoscopy (the worst of all medical exams).

"Ubiquitous computing is an attempt to reform reality by making technological objects conform to human needs and wishes" (218). This is occurring today with the invention of the smart phone, which is essentially a computer that fits in your pocket. The smart phone falls under the umbrella of overkill, along with the these new nike+ shoes that breakdown the workout you just did and allows you to see where you need to improve on. The extent to which ubiquitous computing that has been established within our culture today is far beyond the ideas that were thought about in 1999.

Hypermediacy that Bolter and Grusin described maybe slowly disappearing since the idea of the viewer being reminded of the medium is slowly being taken away to a certain extend. Most people know when they are on facebook or twitter knows that they are interacting with people through a social network or and the same goes with people who play MMO (Massive multiplayer online) games. But do people who grow up in today's culture who have never known another way of contacting people outside of these mediums are aware of the medium or are they not?