Remote viewing and rescued by the webcam. Presence and absence and remote relations.
A woman is saved... By a relative thousands of miles away who's dropped by on her webcam and seen her motionless on the floor. A perfect case study for Marshall McLuhan's work Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In this case in particular, the extended family. Immediate family extended. Connected? Not if it's one way, but connected yes because a filial relation exists, and filial is as connected as it gets. Extensions of man? A woman seen on webcam has not extended her vision, but the viewer has extended his. Her presence has been extended, drawn into, her son's visual field. What virtual presence is this, when McLuhan's subtitle must be inverted to make any sense? Not only to see farther (webam as telescopy) but to be seen from farther away....
It occurred to me last night that while connective technologies increase our ability to express, to speak, to participate anytime and from anyplace, eradicating the material constraints of presence, asynchronous technologies stretch out, defer, and delay the return/response. It takes only the return of a glance to indicate whether or not one's communication has been taken up, and how (accepted/rejected to use Luhmann's terminology; understood, agreed upon, to use Habermas, Austin). But when the technology permits us to speak better than it provides us with the other's feedback (think email, message boards, asychronous... IM, chat, are near synchronous, though we're still limited there to what can be put in text form), we get an asymmetrical relation of presence. Talking at, not talking to.
He saw her prone and her stillness provided him the correct observation that something was wrong.
Is there something wrong if I talk and I can't see how you like it? I must wait to find out.
A woman is saved... By a relative thousands of miles away who's dropped by on her webcam and seen her motionless on the floor. A perfect case study for Marshall McLuhan's work Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In this case in particular, the extended family. Immediate family extended. Connected? Not if it's one way, but connected yes because a filial relation exists, and filial is as connected as it gets. Extensions of man? A woman seen on webcam has not extended her vision, but the viewer has extended his. Her presence has been extended, drawn into, her son's visual field. What virtual presence is this, when McLuhan's subtitle must be inverted to make any sense? Not only to see farther (webam as telescopy) but to be seen from farther away....
It occurred to me last night that while connective technologies increase our ability to express, to speak, to participate anytime and from anyplace, eradicating the material constraints of presence, asynchronous technologies stretch out, defer, and delay the return/response. It takes only the return of a glance to indicate whether or not one's communication has been taken up, and how (accepted/rejected to use Luhmann's terminology; understood, agreed upon, to use Habermas, Austin). But when the technology permits us to speak better than it provides us with the other's feedback (think email, message boards, asychronous... IM, chat, are near synchronous, though we're still limited there to what can be put in text form), we get an asymmetrical relation of presence. Talking at, not talking to.
He saw her prone and her stillness provided him the correct observation that something was wrong.
Is there something wrong if I talk and I can't see how you like it? I must wait to find out.
It occurred to me last night that while connective technologies increase our ability to express, to speak, to participate anytime and from anyplace, eradicating the material constraints of presence, asynchronous technologies stretch out, defer, and delay the return/response. It takes only the return of a glance to indicate whether or not one's communication has been taken up, and how (accepted/rejected to use Luhmann's terminology; understood, agreed upon, to use Habermas, Austin). But when the technology permits us to speak better than it provides us with the other's feedback (think email, message boards, asychronous... IM, chat, are near synchronous, though we're still limited there to what can be put in text form), we get an asymmetrical relation of presence. Talking at, not talking to.
He saw her prone and her stillness provided him the correct observation that something was wrong.
Is there something wrong if I talk and I can't see how you like it? I must wait to find out.
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