Space, the Augmented Frontier

          Space is being transformed, and as Lev Manovich seems to indicate in his essay “The Poetics of Augmented Space,” these changes surround and affect us all, whether or not we may realize it. There no longer exists the distinction between the digital world and the “real” world. At an alarming rate the digital is entering into the real, conforming to the real, and becoming an altogether unnoticed aspect of the real. Digital information is constantly being extracted from, or informing the space in which we live.

          Manovich describes several methods whereby the digital is already having direct effects on the way that we live, the first of which is video surveillance. He describes video surveillance cameras as turning the physical space, and those within it, into data. As habitants in a world where Big Brother may always be watching, we exist here in the “real world” and in Big Brother’s eyes. Skipping ahead, the third is that of “computer/video displays,” (76) which inform our world now more than ever. Digital billboards are a common site these days, as are televisions in restaurants, airports, hotel lobbies, etc. Computer screens playing advertisements on a loop are even a common site in public restrooms, situating themselves above urinals and the like.

          Back to the second, it is that of “cellspace technologies,” (76) where people are no longer turned into data, but actually extract data and bring it into their space. Now, more than at the time of Manovich’s writing, almost everyone carries a cellular device, which, in seconds can access nearly any piece of information from the internet, inform us of our exact whereabouts by way of G.P.S, or put us in touch with someone who supposedly inhabits an entirely different space. Adding “layers onto the physical space,” (78) cellspace technologies, like the aforementioned technologies, augment the space in which we live. This brings Manovich to designate the term “augmented space” (78) to indicate this newly created space in which we live.

          Thus, we can understand this “new space” not as an entirely new space at all, but rather as our old space with a lot of new additions. We may perceive it as new because it is vastly different, but it is in fact only an augmented space. The term “augmented” is an excellent choice of words on the part of Manovich, because although it implies that a positive improvement over the old space has taken place, it does not impose that way of thought. It is simply augmented in the way that technology has augmented every faction of Western human life. Instead of clunky desktop computers, we now save desk space with laptops or ultra-thin screens. The sleek new design, and resolution of television displays augments the look of our living room, which otherwise remains the same. Maybe it’s not better, but in looking at it from the perspective of a progressive technology, it’s hard to see it as anything but augmented. Very simply put, layers of data are added to our world, nothing is taken away.

          Manovich discusses briefly the evolution from virtual reality into augmented space, which actually greatly helps in clarifying and understanding the concept of augmented space in itself. He describes the experience of watching a movie in a theatre, or on a big screen TV as immersing the viewer into a virtual space, and successfully (nearly) removing them from their physical space. (79) However, the new technologies available today, making screens smaller, means that people are able and do watch films on the screens of their cell phones, iPods, etc. In doing so, the viewer is still “largely present in the physical space,” (79) adding to their experience, but not removing them from it.  This perfectly encapsulates the idea of augmented space, while simultaneously making the benefit of it ambiguous. Certainly our experience of and in space is augmented, but arguably the experience of the film is lessened. The viewing of a film, something once thought of as an event, as a night out, or an evening in, can and is experienced on the way to work or on lunch break in the cafeteria. Digital experiences now, as a part of the world, rather than as a separate world, are something to be incorporated into our everyday existence, and thus basically homogenized and forgotten.  Architecture, for instance, is now in the opinion of Manovich, inescapably affected by the existence and progress of augmented space; for better or worse.

          Further illustrating this idea of augmented space as an ambiguous concept, and as a step ahead of virtual reality, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “i Robot…You Jane” (from season 1, 1997) is an interesting cultural artefact to discuss here. Although these concepts can often be exemplified by a walk down a downtown street, they also pervade popular culture. This episode of Buffy, preceding the Manovich article by 5 years, does just that. In it, a powerful demon by the name of Moloch enters into the cyber world, befriending the character Willow and her fellow internet geeks through online chatting. However, what begins as the creation of what is essentially a fantasy, that is, Willow all but falls in love with the demon that passes himself off as a teenage boy in another town, becomes a very real part of reality. Moloch began as merely a virtual nemesis, drawing the internet geeks further and further into the virtual world of the computer. However, in doing so, he’s able to manipulate them into creating a corporeal body for him to inhabit. Thus, he successfully enters into the real world, augmenting real space, and adding a digital layer (himself) onto it. In doing so, he certainly adds something to the physical space in which Buffy and her friends exist, but in this instance augmented space is not something that augments space in a positive way. Buffy and co. see augmented space as something to be stopped, and they do so accordingly. This very quick shift from virtual enemy to augmented reality perfectly encapsulates not only Manovich’s theory of augmented reality, but also the very fast and somewhat alarming rate at which it is occurring.

          Whether good or bad, augmented reality is inescapably a reality. We do live under video surveillance, carry cell phones almost 24/7, are bombarded constantly with computer and video screens and we live from our laptops, our I.M’s and our emails. Many people now organize their lives with and around technology, a digital space, or an augmented space was inevitable.