Exposure Time, The Aura, And Telerobotics

From what I understood, Marina Grazinic, in her article, Exposure Time, The Aura, and Telerobotics, seeks to point out that media form such as photography represent the contraction of real-time into virtual time. In photography, what is important is, the temporal relation between the contents of the photograph. In other words, what's amazing about a photograph, is the feeling of holding still a moment in time. And longer the interval of exposure is, the longer will be the aura associated with it.

I think, this is true in certain respects. This is evident in new media forms as well. Grazinic points out the increasing importance being given to digitalization. She thinks of digitalization as representing an conscious desire to erase the temporal-reality and create virtual-reality. This would shorten the interval of exposure and therefore lessen the sense of aura that she speaks of.

Many new media forms such as youtube.com and myspace.com, that dominate the cyberspace, also seek to lessen the divide between the real and virtual. Less importance is placed on where the video was shot, who shot it, and when was it shot. More importance is being put on the content of the video, how easy is it to upload it, minimize buffering, and other technical things that seek to erase the temporal relations within the video and thereby create a virtual experience that is free from any real time constraints.

She also brings up a good point about technological usage is journalistic coverage of war. She proposes that we question the use of technology to create instantaneous new coverage because people might be hostile to the idea of having such images on their television screens. I think it is an important and interesting role that such technological innovations have played in shaping the political debate in this country. It is encouraging to see that technology has made it possible for us to know when a disastrous earthquake strikes thousands of miles away, so that we can send aid rite away.

This author seems pessimistic about the promise of technology, because for her what is more important are constraints like, place, position and time, that define the so called “natural Interface.” I think it is time to grow out of such mentality and be excited about the possible ways in which instantaneous telecommunication technology can be used to further the cause of mankind.