Virtual and Augmented Reality’s Remediation
Introduction
In 1979, the popular song Video Killed the Radio Star was released by The Buggles. The song is about a character whose musical career was ended abruptly because of the video age. While it’s true that the introduction of new technologies do shape societies and evolve previous technologies, they rarely cause elimination of previous technologies.
For example, despite all the competition (social media, streaming content, etc.), radio in Canada is still doing very well. Radio listening in Canada has risen 3% to 64% in 2017 (Shaver, 2017). In his video, Kevin Sharpe indicates that authors Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin state that emerging technologies actually reflect and pay homage to earlier forms of technology (Sharpe, 2010). This theory is called Remediation by Bolter and Grusin. I will analyze how Virtual Reality (VR) pays homage and reflects the technology and mediums it was meant to replace, namely cinema and television. I will also compare Virtual and Augmented Realities and how Augmented Reality (AR) remediates VR.
VR Adoption Comparison
The origins of the television date back to the 1920s. At the time there was very low adoption worldwide. This was due to a number of factors including cost, quality and awareness. It would take over 20 years for mass adoption to begin (Hutchinson, 2013). There was a similar adoption rate with VR. The concept of stereoscopic images have been around for some time, but the first VR head mounted display (HMD) can be traced back to 1968. The project was created by computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, but never made it past experimental project stage (Dormehl, 2017).
Over the many years since 1968, there have been attempts to implement VR technologies such as Virtual Boy from Nintendo, all of them not attracting the world’s attention. It took over forty years for the technology to catch up and support mass adoption. Although it wasn’t just processing power and graphics capabilities that needed to catch up, but also society’s preparedness for the medium. According to Rachel Metz (2017), Senior Editor at the MIT Technology Review, smartphone-enabled VR devices such as the Google Daydream and Samsung Gear VR improved adoption of VR by removing the friction that high end VR devices such as the HTC Vive had. People could get put on the headset and start exploring virtual worlds, at a much lower price point.
Virtual Reality’s Remediation
Bolter (2012, p. 14) explains that the process of remediation is often two way. A new medium will borrow aspects from an older medium, while an older medium may borrow aspects from the new medium. He gives the example of video games borrowing practices found in film such as storylines and plots and how film borrowed from a newer medium by incorporating 3D modelling and special effects typically found in video games. Bolter also indicates that through remediation, mediums are often in a cultural struggle. From its debut, film has been in a cultural battle with newer forms of media. This struggle was first realized with the rise of the television in the 1950s, which saw a decline in cinema attendance. The film industry responded by introducing technologies such as color to tell stories that were “true to life” and “larger than life” at the same time. This again gave cultural dominance to film. Over the years, this dominance has been challenged as new forms of media remediated film. The most recent form being virtual reality (VR). As was mentioned in the video from Sharpe (2010), virtual reality remediated film. According to The Chicago School of Media Theory (n.d.), immediacy is the elimination of media or the lack of awareness of the media. For years, this has been one of film’s strengths. When entering the movie theatre, you are transported to another time and place. In many cases, you forget you’re in the theatre and forget the medium exists. In this way, virtual reality is remediating film. Within moments of putting on a HMD, a viewer is transported to another world. Techniques such as spatial audio, 360-degree views, movement tracking, and haptics (the ability to send vibration feedback) cause the viewer to literally forget where they are and the medium itself. In fact, there is a serious risk when participants are in VR for too long that they can lose spatial awareness (Fagan, 2018). This challenge of film’s dominance of immediacy is called presence in VR. Sanchez-Vives & Slater (2005) describe presence as the phenomenon of acting and feeling like we are in the virtual world. The level of presence is affected by various aspects such as sound, visuals, haptics, engagement, etc. In addition to VR remediating film, Bolter & Enberg (as cited in “The Next Step: Exponential Life”, 2017) state that VR remediates first-person shoot video games by putting the participant in a first-person role.
As I indicated earlier, Bolter states that remediation is often a two-way street. Newer and older forms of media can borrow from each other. The relationship between film and VR is no exception. The film industry has recognized the challenge for immediacy dominance that VR brings and have begun to remediate from VR. One way is through storytelling. When watching a film you’re presented with a story that consists of characters and a plot. Filmmakers have embraced VR technology as way to evolve their art and tell stories in highly immersive films. The concept of immediacy is taken to the next level in the VR film, Wolves in The Walls. In the VR film you’re not a passive viewer as you would be in a traditional film. You are an active participant and play the role of the main character’s imaginary friend (Sumra, 2018). While this is using a VR HMD, this is perfect example of film remediating from a new form of media. In addition to VR storytelling, there is a convergence happening between the two forms of media. Historically, attending the theatre was a social experience, while VR has been a solitary experience. The convergence is in being described as an immersive theatre VR experience in which viewers join a social VR experience. Rather than interacting with preprogrammed avatars, similar to what you may find in a video game, the characters in the experience are controlled by actors wearing a motion capture suit (Slatt, 2018).
Augmented Reality’s Remediation
It’s clear that VR is a remediation of film and that there is a struggle for immediacy dominance, but will that same struggle exist as Augmented Reality (AR) remediates VR? In his video, Sharpe states that Bolter & Grusin (as cited in Sharpe, 2010) describe AR as the opposite of VR. Charlie Fink (2017), well-known VR/AR speaker and futurist, indicates that VR and AR are not opposite to each other. They are not on the same continuum. They have different purposes. He states that “VR is a new reality, AR is about enhancing reality.” I describe the difference as VR puts you in a virtual environment, AR puts virtual elements in the real world. They share some of the same technology such as 3D objects, artificial intelligence and tracking. While Fink disagrees that they are on the same spectrum as implied by Bolter and Grusin, there is some evidence of AR remediating VR, as well as other mediums.
According to Chavan (2016), in addition to AR remediating some of the technology concepts from VR, it also remediates some of the implementation models. For example, well-known AR devices such as the Microsoft HoloLens requires the user to put on a HMD to experience augmented reality. One major difference in the application of AR over VR is in the immediacy. Just as VR was able to provide greater immediacy than film, AR provides greater immediacy than VR. Sharpe (2010) describes AR as ubiquitous computing. This is supported by well-known augmented reality researcher and speaker, Dr. Helen Papagiannis. In her book Augmented Human, she describes AR as receding into the background and allowing us to participate in human experiences (Papagiannis, 2017).
Conclusion
Virtual and augmented reality have some similarities, but also some differences. They remediate from similar older mediums. Sharpe indicates in his video that augmented reality doesn’t require the intrusive hardware requirements that virtual reality does and because of this, the technology disappears, thus achieving total immersion. While this may be true, the current mass adoption instance of augmented reality is clunky, despite what Sharpe indicates in his video. Mobile AR on devices like the iPhone is a very clunky experience. This is a major point of friction and restricting adoption. The current instant of AR using mobile phones does not achieve the immediacy that is possible with the medium.
Immediacy won’t fully be achieved until the technology can truly recede into the background as indicated by Papagiannis. In this case, VR HMD devices offer a higher level of immediacy than mobile AR. Augmented reality will evolve and will become more immersive. As it evolves, it will remediate VR and other mediums. An example is the haptic feedback commonly found in VR and even video games. Research is currently being conducting looking at integrating haptics into AR experiences.
References
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