ArtTech

Technology as
Immersive

Eric Zener, c. 2002
Swimmers (Oil on Canvas)

Technology as Immersive: Media Surrounds Body

This is the fourth way of talking about technology that feels relevant to me.

We're familiar with technology that surrounds us — this is the dream of technology as an ocean, where the body is submerged in media. Achieving this fantasy was once the domain of virtual reality helmets, goggles, and gloves; and in even more extreme scenarios, of self-isolating chambers that tossed and turned as if in free-fall, such as thrill rides in amusement parks.

Today, though, that kind of immersive hardware seems less persuasive, and perhaps less exciting. Instead, we have peripherals that engage our full body in real-world interactivity, such as the Wii and the Kinect.

Or, from another perspective, character immersivity is perhaps the most popular kind of immersive experience today. Here, the user projects himself into a media environment via identification with an avatar, or with a player-representative, for example in games like the Sims, or Minecraft; or in team-based competitive gaming like League of Legends, or Starcraft; or in massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft.

And finally, a newcomer: the emerging technology of Augmented Reality, which puts users into media landscapes without removing them from shared public space. (For an example of AR that merges public and private space in the fully public arena of a city square, see Wynwood Walls from Miami Basel, 2012, the work of Re+Public Lab.)

Each of these media experiences activates a highly intuitive sense of immersion, revealing or concealing aspects experience, as discussed previously. Although my examples are all from gaming, this type of immersivity is evident in other media environments, too, such as in flight training simulators, and in some programming environments, such as Logo. More broadly, the notion of immersion also means to use digital technology in a way that feels all consuming, or that is highly engaging.

In a sense, though, in each of these cases, immersivity is produced in a way that is similar to the movies. That is, to the extent that movie goers can remove themselves from the effects of a horror film by telling themselves "it's only a movie," or by closing their eyes, each of these media immersions depends on a willing suspension of disbelief.

This dynamic makes good, intuitive, sense, for at least two reasons: first, going to the movies is a thoroughly ingrained behavior in the developed world; and second, choosing to put one's body into the ocean is an entirely normal behavior — because at some point or another, everyone has gone swimming or taken a bath.

Also, this kind of immersion feels comfortable, and within our control; that is, we can choose to immerse ourselves or not.

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