Teleoperator
Definition
A computer monitor connected to a network becomes a window through which we can be present in a place thousands of miles away”[1]
“Remote surgery (also known as telesurgery) is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. It is a form of telepresence…It promises to allow the expertise of specialized surgeons to be available to patients worldwide, without the need for patients to travel beyond their local hospital”[2]
In the same way, users teleoperate each other’s Facebook walls. They use technological tools to remotely augment each other’s social identities. The personalities of Facebook users are available to friends worldwide, without the need for friends to travel beyond their local neighborhood, household, or college. Facebook is a form of virtual telepresence. Each friend teleoperates each other’s walls through text and the addition of images and social tagging. These technosocial operations cocreate digital identities and the presentation of self in digital life.
Actors in the network can interaction with representations of others in real time through the use of cell phones and chat, and in delayed time by Twitter replies, E-mail and profiles.
The personal boundary extends into the public. It is not completely translucent, as one chooses how to represent the self online. Avatar, text, link-sharing, ‘following’.
The more signals we pass through our computers, the more integrated we become. But the more signals we pass through, the more teleoperated our friends become. The further away and far-spread our communities can actually be. We can have them in the palm of our hand, whether in Germany, Japan or Russia.
References
- ↑ (Manovich, 1, 1995). (Source: Kunstforum International. Germany,1995; NewMediaTopia. Moscow, Soros Center for the Contemporary Art, 1995).
- ↑ (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_surgery)
