In the first chapter of their book Remediation: Understanding New Media, Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin do a good job of outlining three of the most key elements of media: immediacy, hypermediacy, and remediation. These elements are not something new that have appeared with the advent of new media but instead have been around as long as there has been any kind of media. The new technologies of today are creating an interesting way for these terms to be defined and represented in our forms of new media.

One of the most interesting elements of media is immediacy. The immediacy of media is how the medium of the media is made transparent so that the user feels completely immersed in the experience. One example of immediacy that I find very exciting is in videogames. When I first started playing videogames like Mario and Donkey Kong, it was nearly impossible to become fully immersed in the playing experience. The graphics of the games were two-dimensional and game play was carried out in a completely linear fashion. You would start at point A of a level and move your way right until you reached point B. The games were fun but you definitely didn’t forget that you were playing a video game.

Now when I sit down to play a videogame I am entering a completely different world. When thinking about the immediacy of media I can’t help but to remember an experience I had over winter break. One night when I had nothing else to do I went over to my friend’s house to play some videogames. The game we chose to play was Call of Duty 4. In the game you are a US Special Forces member who goes around the world fighting terrorism. The interface of the game is completely first person so that you see only the tip of your gun that you are holding. My friend’s basement that we were playing in had a home theater with a large television and full surround sound. As I was playing the game I could hear explosions and gunshots coming from all around me. When something would explode, dust and dirt would fly at me on the screen and I would find myself physically ducking to avoid it. I also remember myself whispering to my friend while sneaking through a building in the game and then quickly turning around when hearing a gunshot only to find an empty room. While playing the game I completely forgot that there was a controller in my hand and that I was actually sitting in a basement far away from any battlefield. Once we turn the playstation on, I became immersed to the point where I was physically moving with my character on the screen.

I also find the remediation going on today very intriguing. One of the best examples of remediation today is the apple iPhone. The iPhone has made itself in to a completely new medium for media. People can now browse and purchase music anywhere that has wireless Internet. You can even watch rented movies on your iPhone now. One of the fascinating remediations created by the iPhone is that of maps. On the iPhone it is possible to locate yourself anywhere on a Google map or aerial photo. It is very easy to browse the map using only your fingertips. Different motions zoom in and out, move along the map, and center the map. My iPhone has changed the way that I get directions. First I used real maps, then websites like Mapquest and Google maps, now all I have to do is type something into the Google search bar on my iPhone and I can have instant directions whenever I want. The growth of new technologies is causing our media to change at a faster rate then ever.