Our Digital Lives Will Be Changed Forever

The Reality of the Convergence

   Can you image a reality where you never have to leave the comfort of your home to enjoy the experience of actually living? 

(The first fifty seconds of this sums up what could be our future reality

& the rest is just a poorly written movie.)

   

     In this dystopian film "Surrogates," characters use machines to travel the world to complete everyday tasks and ultimately the world has become this kind of utopia where humans no longer encounter fear. This ultimately could be a reality we head towards.

Each level is designed by an architect.

     Our predecessors used to tell stories through and only through word of mouth but as time progressed and we evolved so did our storytelling. We went from illustrating stories on cave walls to publishing periodicals, with much ado about nothing in-between and as we now progress on into the 21st century, storytelling progresses as well.

     Transmedia, has pushed our story arch forward but where does this convergence of digital media and print media land us? Does it take us into the virtual world similarly to that of the surrogates? A world where our digital selves roam around a vast construct of an architect?

     It might be a possibility in the next decade as technology becomes cheaper and is able to reach a global scale. If items like the Oculus Rift which already exists on the market, get into households around the country, virtual reality might take over.

     Thus far plans for this have been stalled when Oculus was purchased by Facebook, but a VR novice put together a rough draft of what the future of virtual reality could look like using some xbox hardware.

     Jane McGonigal a Game Designer presented at TED2010 with the idea that the world problems could be solved with gaming. McGonigal asks a profound question,

"What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems?"

Our relationship with media could change forever.

     I argue that it shouldn't be a reality. The number one problem being that those that escape into video games have a reason for doing so and that reason isn't because they're in love with their own realities, sadly. They escape because they can't handle reality. Even if gamers saved the world they wouldn't have a world to come back to. They'd be stuck in virtual reality.

     Why do we look to our phone on a subway or when were bored or idle? There might be a few different reasons but the main reason is that the people we have a trusted relationship with are a finger touch away and those people for example; on the subway, are strangers and who has time to make new friends with strangers?

     The problem is that in virtual reality we don't have as much to lose. That's why we prefer it. Even spyware is going virtual. In an article by Andy Greenburg titled, "How Splitting A Computer into Multiple Realities Can Protect You From Hackers" he writes about a polish hacker by the name of Joanna Rutkowska that was able to create a type of virtual reality spyware.

     Its a type of spyware that instead of attaching to the computer, the computer would become apart of the spyware:

Rutkowska also created a Red Pill to
dectect the presence of a virtual machine.

At the time, a technology known as virtualization was becoming easier to implement on PCs, allowing anyone to create a miniature operating system, known as a virtual machine, inside their main operating system. Rutkowska manipulated virtualization into a mind-contorting weapon called a Blue Pill attack.

     Movies like "The Matrix," are a strong example of a transmedia success. It met it's initial movie with more movies and video games that expanded the experience beyond a two hour movie session. Even print media has been expanding their reach. Newspapers have been forced to adapt to this new era of digital media that we've walked into.

     Transmedia storytelling may have had its defining moment the night when the grand jury finally came to a decision in the Daren Wilson hearing, deciding that he wouldn't be indicted. The nation exploded with protest and it was covered by digital media and social media. Twitter, facebook, tumblr, livesteams, ustreams, CNN, FOX and all the other news stations took to the streets and marched right along side the protestors. Stories being told from multiple angles.

   The morning ewws headline read, 

Daily News also reported that one person died that night. 

     This story has been looked on by the eyes of the world, through different colored lenses and transmedia made that possible, but where is the future of transmedia heading? Is it global collaboration? The same story being told through different perceptions? Maybe. We could all end up in virtual realities that we control. And though the future of media is unknown it can't be stopped.

     Look at all of us today. We all have a digital life we maintain; whether that be our twitter or our facebooks, we have all jumped on the bandwagon of the digitization of our lives.

Matthew Cole

Professor Doris Caçoilo

Convergence

25 Nov 2014