Reality Media

How augmented reality and virtual reality are taking their places in contemporary media culture alongside film and television.

This book positions augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) firmly in contemporary media culture. The authors view AR and VR not as the latest technological gizmos but as media-the latest in a series of what they term "reality media," taking their places alongside film and television. Reality media inserts a layer of media between us and our perception of the world; AR and VR do not replace reality but refashion a reality for us by appealing to our senses. As media converge in new patterns of creation and consumption, film, television, AR, and VR all participate in this process of remediation.
The authors show that as forms of reality media emerge, they not only chart a future path for media culture, but also redefine media past. With AR and VR in mind, then, we can recognize their precursors in eighteenth-century panoramas and the Broadway lights of the 1930s. A digital version of Reality Media, available through the book's website, invites readers to visit a series of virtual rooms featuring interactivity, 3D models, videos, images, and texts that explore the themes of the book.