This blog post comes from a cross of sheer randomness and boredom. Basically, this blog post is going to talk about technology and how, despite it being brilliant, wonderful and almost necessary in the world today is in-fact full of many things that make it worse... At the same time though you have to remember that despite this I don't hate technology, I love it, its just certain aspects annoy me.
The life of Technology
There are many forms of technology in the world, some for practical uses and some for entertainment purposes - phones, iPods, computers, games consoles, TVs, etc - all of them have been developed over the course of recent history and have their specific roles in our lives. Its hard to imagine in a lot of cases just how humanity survived without the technology... I know that they did but I couldn't imagine living without it... Despite this however, for me personally and I'm sure for almost everyone else, technology has been the cause of so many problems in my life... And it is these problems that make technology a burden to us as well as a blessing, and whats worse some of these problems are trivial things but they annoy us anyway - and without the technology a lot of these problems couldn't even arise in the first place.
The ever dwindling battery
Battery life is a common problem brought about by technology and one which causes the most problems and most annoyance. Any form of device that is portable requires batteries to work and it is inevitable that the power of these batteries will eventually run out... and yet when it happens it normally seems to be at the worst time... like just when we find we are going on a long journey, for example. As well as this, batteries provide annoyance through forced spending for more of these portable sources of power... This annoyance has since been removed with rechargeable batteries or in-built rechargeable batteries but portable technology causes this problem in the first place.
From this though we are led onto the problem that is simply... batteries can't cope with technology. Batteries powering older devices from the early 1990s for example seem to last forever however, as you get to batteries in modern cameras of Nintendo 3DSes they have a battery life of just a few hours... and this again leads to the aforementioned battery dying problem, only now it happens more regularly... and you get angry thinking 'Why is this happening? Surely they could get more powerful batteries!?' and this is true... With the increase in power of technology it is obvious that the drain on battery life will be greater so why don't they include more powerful batteries?
Why won't you work!?
Yet another common problem with technology is the fact that... it simply cannot work at times. Your TV could lose signal, same with your phone, your game could crash or a program on a laptop decides not to work as planned. Technology isn't perfect it will have flaws, yet we get so angry if we miss something or lose something because technology decides to fail on us... Think about it if something non-digital doesn't go right, you get annoyed but carry on because you made a mistake, but if technology goes wrong we have a tantrum and rant and rave at anyone and anything about it. I mean, if your phone doesn't have signal so you can't send a text or ring someone for whatever purpose, even if its really important... its annoying but inevitable due to the way the technology works but we still hate it. And yet, only a couple of decades ago we didn't have this technology so we couldn't even text someone anyways...Technology is brilliant, up until the moment it fails us...
The flow of information
Due to the internet and TV we can find almost any piece of information we wish and can do it at almost any time... this is a wondrous thing and is great benefit to us all. At the same time the cost of being able to access this information has a price, many prices in fact. Due the abundance of information we believe almost anything we see or hear about online and because anyone can see this information it spreads... everywhere... It is generally the case that you hear something bad on the news and the information that we get influences us greatly... and ultimately nothing comes of it. One example of this is the spread of knowledge regarding illnesses... we are told all of this information about some form of deadly virus or whatever which is helpful but because we become overloaded with this information and believe anything about it no matter how distorted we panic too much... And then ultiamtey, not much happens and it suddenly dies away leading us all panicing over nothing.
At the other end of the spectrum, the rise of technology allowing us to get information leads to people getting their hopes up and then ultimately have them shattered or not live up to their over-hyped expectations. Games and films are one example of this, in the past I wouldn't know about a new game or film coming out until i read it in a magazine or glanced upon it in a shop and this led to no pre-expectations, I would just go and get a game or see a film because it looked good. Nowadays though, I hear about any and all games and film YEARS before they come out and see endless trailers showing me promises of pure epicness... and then the game or film is realsed and more than half the time I am left disappointed - I may still love the game or film to bits but due to the over-hype it never lives up to what I expected ending in disappointment.
The end result
So there we have it a few of the downsides to the benefits of technology... Technology is brilliant and most of the time it helps us - end of - and without it life would be harder. But it has inevitably caused more problems to arise that wouldn't otherwise exist... and because technology is a core part of our lives these problems occur all too often.
This is my final word on my blog, for a while... the blog assessment itself is due in this Friday and inbetween then and now I have other deadlines that I have to work on... So, for the foreseeable future, 'til next time - that's all folks!
Saturday 30 April 2011
Wednesday 13 April 2011
Remediation
Right, it turns out I was right, there is in fact another lecture based blog post; and here it is! This is just a short blog post as the last lecture topic is something that is simple to understand, therefore leading to a small blog post about it. That's not to say it's not important though... remediation is quite important in the development of new ideas.
So, let's begin! Now, what is remediation? Remediation (in terms of media and entertainment) is the use of one medium or idea that originated in one area in another, such as a medium or idea that started and was developed on radio being used on TV or films. Remediation itself isn't a difficult process but making the remediated idea work and stick is another thing - just because an idea works in one medium doesn't guarantee it will work, it could completely fail. However, in contrast, it could be the complete opposite and the idea could be improved and taken to new heights by moving it to a new medium, such as with Soap Operas that began on the radio but truly bloomed once they moved to TV.
That was essentially the gist of our last lecture, learning what remediation was - however, on from the above we also learnt different types of remediation which is linked to immediacy and hypermediacy (will talk about these in a moment) and then, more directly related to our course, the development of 'Techoludic films' which are a form of remediation between films and games.
Immediacy is where the media tries to make you forget that you are looking at something that isn't media at all... for example within the media of photography photo-realistic images emerged... pictures that were so real it made you feel like you were there, it makes you forget its just a picture. However, this practice can be remediated, for example, the artist Ralph Goings is a painter who paints photo-realistic paintings - they look so real you forget that you are looking at a painting. This is an example of remediation where the idea is directly copied in a different medium but the method of doing so is completely different; this is more prevalent with immediacy.
Hypermediacy is where the media the media makes it abundantly clear that the item in question isn't real. For example, the internet and the pages within it are obviously not real, they provide us with various information, entertainment, etc but it doesn't immerse you so you think you are in the internet with what you are seeing. The conventions of this are adopted elsewhere though, with examples such as rolling news streams that are displayed on news websites being displayed at the bottom of news reports that are shown on television. The idea is copied from one medium to the other almost directly with no changes at all to the core idea (another idea being video game HUDS which, while different, remain the same concept at the core and this HUD is adopted in other mediums) - this is more prevalent in hypermediacy.
Finally, on to Techoludic films... these, as stated above are films that take on the conventions of video games, a good example of remediation, a middle ground of immediacy and hypermediacy (most films do this, as they immerse you in the world and nature of the film and you do feel like you're there but, depending on the setting of the film, you are aware of the hypermediacy of the film because you know it could never happen) and also showing how remediation itself has different forms.
Technoludic comes from a combination of Technology and Ludus (latin for play) which is why they are linked often with video game remediations in films or vice-versa. One type of Technoludic film remediation is one where the film isn't like a game but makes subtle links to games and their technology, commenting on the escape of the real world and losing yourself in another reality... films such as The Matrix do this (look up the premise of the film if you haven't seen it). It doesn't mention games at all or seem relevant at first but you can see the concept when you look at it closely - these type of Techoludic films are ones as commentary; they show links between the 2 media without directly using the other.
The second type of Technoludic remediation is where the film is an ordinary film with games appearing for illustrative purposes, the film isn't about them at all but the story ideas and aesthetic look of the film is taken from video games, for example, Blade Runner. This type of film is one as a quotation, they incorporate ideas from the other without actually changing the core principle of the original media.
The third type can technically be broken down into 2 parts but they are both the same thing, in this case the type of film is Technoludic films as adaptations of games (or vice-versa); a core and very direct form of remediation. The two halves to this are films based on games, for example, the Resident Evil films series, Tomb Raider, Dead Or Alive, etc - these adaptations are apparent. The second half is more subtle but technically an adaptation - in this case the film has an entirely original premise and storyline but takes the ideas of games to make it, for example the film Run Lola Run. The film is entirely original, not based off a game, etc, but it contains many elements taken straight from a game, such as multiple storylines inter-linking, multiple lives, character selection... and it works too.
So, there you have it, my final lecture based blog post and its on Remediation... a very useful thing to have existed as it has produced many interesting works of media that wouldn't have existed if everything had to stay where it was created. This most likely won't be my last blog post as I may chrn out another random one or two before the deadline for this module on 6th May... after which I will most likely still blog anyways as its a good form of showing off my work and stuff. So, yea, anyways, 'til next time - that's all folks!
So, let's begin! Now, what is remediation? Remediation (in terms of media and entertainment) is the use of one medium or idea that originated in one area in another, such as a medium or idea that started and was developed on radio being used on TV or films. Remediation itself isn't a difficult process but making the remediated idea work and stick is another thing - just because an idea works in one medium doesn't guarantee it will work, it could completely fail. However, in contrast, it could be the complete opposite and the idea could be improved and taken to new heights by moving it to a new medium, such as with Soap Operas that began on the radio but truly bloomed once they moved to TV.
That was essentially the gist of our last lecture, learning what remediation was - however, on from the above we also learnt different types of remediation which is linked to immediacy and hypermediacy (will talk about these in a moment) and then, more directly related to our course, the development of 'Techoludic films' which are a form of remediation between films and games.
Immediacy is where the media tries to make you forget that you are looking at something that isn't media at all... for example within the media of photography photo-realistic images emerged... pictures that were so real it made you feel like you were there, it makes you forget its just a picture. However, this practice can be remediated, for example, the artist Ralph Goings is a painter who paints photo-realistic paintings - they look so real you forget that you are looking at a painting. This is an example of remediation where the idea is directly copied in a different medium but the method of doing so is completely different; this is more prevalent with immediacy.
Hypermediacy is where the media the media makes it abundantly clear that the item in question isn't real. For example, the internet and the pages within it are obviously not real, they provide us with various information, entertainment, etc but it doesn't immerse you so you think you are in the internet with what you are seeing. The conventions of this are adopted elsewhere though, with examples such as rolling news streams that are displayed on news websites being displayed at the bottom of news reports that are shown on television. The idea is copied from one medium to the other almost directly with no changes at all to the core idea (another idea being video game HUDS which, while different, remain the same concept at the core and this HUD is adopted in other mediums) - this is more prevalent in hypermediacy.
Finally, on to Techoludic films... these, as stated above are films that take on the conventions of video games, a good example of remediation, a middle ground of immediacy and hypermediacy (most films do this, as they immerse you in the world and nature of the film and you do feel like you're there but, depending on the setting of the film, you are aware of the hypermediacy of the film because you know it could never happen) and also showing how remediation itself has different forms.
Technoludic comes from a combination of Technology and Ludus (latin for play) which is why they are linked often with video game remediations in films or vice-versa. One type of Technoludic film remediation is one where the film isn't like a game but makes subtle links to games and their technology, commenting on the escape of the real world and losing yourself in another reality... films such as The Matrix do this (look up the premise of the film if you haven't seen it). It doesn't mention games at all or seem relevant at first but you can see the concept when you look at it closely - these type of Techoludic films are ones as commentary; they show links between the 2 media without directly using the other.
The second type of Technoludic remediation is where the film is an ordinary film with games appearing for illustrative purposes, the film isn't about them at all but the story ideas and aesthetic look of the film is taken from video games, for example, Blade Runner. This type of film is one as a quotation, they incorporate ideas from the other without actually changing the core principle of the original media.
The third type can technically be broken down into 2 parts but they are both the same thing, in this case the type of film is Technoludic films as adaptations of games (or vice-versa); a core and very direct form of remediation. The two halves to this are films based on games, for example, the Resident Evil films series, Tomb Raider, Dead Or Alive, etc - these adaptations are apparent. The second half is more subtle but technically an adaptation - in this case the film has an entirely original premise and storyline but takes the ideas of games to make it, for example the film Run Lola Run. The film is entirely original, not based off a game, etc, but it contains many elements taken straight from a game, such as multiple storylines inter-linking, multiple lives, character selection... and it works too.
So, there you have it, my final lecture based blog post and its on Remediation... a very useful thing to have existed as it has produced many interesting works of media that wouldn't have existed if everything had to stay where it was created. This most likely won't be my last blog post as I may chrn out another random one or two before the deadline for this module on 6th May... after which I will most likely still blog anyways as its a good form of showing off my work and stuff. So, yea, anyways, 'til next time - that's all folks!
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