mechanical age

The mechanical age is the paradigm that came before this one, defined in the book "About Face 3 The Essentials of Interaction Design". The book "About Face 3 The Essentials of Interaction Design" is talking aobut how people respond to and inter with the world around us. They make the argument that the "It is only natural for us to try to draw the imagery and language of an earlier era that we are comfortable with into a new, less certain one." The piont is that people want to develop in a new age with new ideas and technology, but they feel safe in the old age that they know works. "For example, we called railroad engines iron horses and automobiles were labeled horseless carriages." This was of talking about the mechanical age brings with it considerations of how to develop for the new age. People are so wrapped up with the thoughts old that the new media reflects old media. Remediation takes these thoughts old and twists them to the into a new idea. The mechanical age is still what people develop for with new ideas.

In the video the future of the book, IDEO explains how they intend to create a user experiences in a book. They add interactive elements into how the user reads the book. Each product adds different interactivity to the mix of how a person would read the book. IDEO adds more personality to the act of reading. http://vimeo.com/15142335

If you pull back and look at the big picture they creating a remediation of a book with real time internet capabilities. I think its a great idea, but the fact is that to create a new media they used old media as a means to the end. The social implacation of creating media through remediation can be seen as a evolution to media. We take baby steps forward until the next big thing happens. This changes our views of interaction and creates new way to design. The development of media in the next age will mirror how when see and develop in this age.