WATCHING TELEVISION

By Jackson Nzuli.

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in two or three dimensions and sound. At times, when one is watching an action in a TV, he/she forget the TV and moves with the images in the Television. This is called immediacy in new media.

Take for instance, when one is watching football, he may find himself kicking and acting just like the players in the television.

In this case, the viewer has forgotten the medium (The TV) and will be active in the match just like the players and the audience live at the game.

When a viewer views a boxing contest, he may find himself restless on the couch he sits. He or she forgets everything around, the TV and gets into the real contest.

Often, the viewer will be moving the hands, the head, the legs and the whole body just like the actors in the play. Sometimes, the viewer may kick the objects around him or find himself celebrating crazily just like the audience in the real live game. This is called immediacy.  

I had a friend who used to shed tears we were watching the Nigerian Blood Sisters Movie. He could always get himself inside the situation of the movie and feel like he was the one undergoing the challenges in the movie. He could forget the people around him. At times, I could hear him abuse the characters in the movie. This is an example of immediacy in new media.

The situation whereby the user of the medium forgets the medium and concentrates on the content is called immediacy. Immediacy makes the interface/ medium to be interface less. This is called an interface less interface.  

Immediacy

Immediacy is a technology of mediation whose purpose is to disappear. The intent is described thus “what designers often say they want is an “interfaceless” interface, in which there will be no recognizable electronic tools, no buttons, windows, scroll bars, or even icons as such. Instead the user will move through the space interacting with the objects “naturally,” i.e., as she does in the physical world” (pp5) The aim is avoidance of a conscious medium of conveyance “a transparent interface is one that erases itself, so that the user would no longer be aware of confronting a medium, but instead would stand in an immediate relationship to the contents of the medium”(pp5).  Intriguingly the act of the designer or artist towards immediacy in the world of painting and photography means erasing their presence and thus marking their skill.  Those who are th ebest draw attention to themselves as their skill is celebrated, thus their presence is notable if not overtly there.

Bolter and Grusin contemplate computer generated images (CGI) which can now be virtual matches to photographs and there is experimental evidence that, for certain sorts of scenes, observers cannot distinguish these images from photographs. “even if we cannot always tell synthesized images from photographs, we can distinguish the somewhat different strategies that painting and photography have adopted in striving for immediacy, and we can explore how digital graphics borrows and adapts each of these strategies” (pp8).  They cite (pp9) the traditional methods of making photographs (film based and thus about the hand and eye of the photographer) verses the CGI methodology (programming and the use of algorithms which flow to create once set in motion my the hand on the mouse) when writing in 1996.  Yet diminishing CGI and  digital photography (and its ability to manipulate in cameras and during post production) to the pixel begins to merge the technology and thus the inputs and outputs.

Moi university shines in Rift-Valley Inter-Varsity Marathon

By Jackson Nzuli

Moi university's Paul Ekiru shuttered all varsities in Rift valley region when he won the 10km men marathon. His compatriot  Titus Singor took the second position followed by Gedion Kimutai of University of Eldoret (UOE) in the third position.

The fourth and the fifth positions were taken by Kibet Dennis of Mt. Kenya University (MKU) and Kipkorir Elijah of Kenyatta university respectively.

Moi University's Paul Ekiru chest number 365 and Titus Singor chest number 364 during the Moi-University inter-campus championship. Photo by Jackson Nzuli/The fourth Estate Kenya.

 Paul Ekiru clocked 34 minutes and 28 seconds in the race with Titus Singor clocking 35 minutes and 48 seconds.

Cynthia Togom of University of Eldoret (UOE) won the women 10km marathon race clocking 46 minutes and 16 seconds . The second position was taken by her compatriot Sharon Kibor. The third position was taken by Blessings Chepkembei of Mt Kenya University.

The championship brought together universities from the Rift valley region; Mt. Kenya University (MKU), University of Eldoret (UOE), Kenyatta University (KU), Bomet University collage among others. The marathon aimed at bringing the universities together to come up with a team that would represent the region in the Inter-Regional open championship that will be held on 21^st October at the University of Eldoret.
The team would also represent the region in the international Young Athletes’ Championship at Switzerland within the year.

Esther Wasike, the director of sports Moi University  Students Governing Council (SGC), had officially opened the challenge with a 2km run taking the second position, behind her campus mate  Esther Muthoni who was in position One.