"The intensity and the expansion of the mobility depends of the capacity of technical systems to satisfied them"
Wikipedia about mobility
My point about mobility is that it’s a social notion, because when you move, like the electron around an atom, you create interactions, meetings, energy. It can be a virtual or a physical encounter. Anyways, if nothing moves, there are no interactions, no exchanges. Indeed, travelling is one of the best ways to socialize, change the mind and have new experiences.
But I am interested by virtual mobility, for I think it’s fairer. Physical travelling is most of the time expensive, everybody can’t access to it. On the contrary, virtual travelling is cheap and one can go wherever one wants. Everybody can access information, communicate all over the world, to be open-minded and be aware of what happens in the world. Internet offers a new form of public space which everybody can access, gives opinions and debate.
The new media like internet bring a new vision of mobility. The improvements of different systems allows to move physically faster and farer. But the revolution of the informatics networks offers mobility all over the world quickly without physical movement. The distribution of information in real time offers a new conception of the world. The world is shrinking and ended we knows every part of it, there is nothing to discover anymore. It gives also a new vision of time and distances. It’s easy to travel by virtual means. As a consequence physical mobility that improved to be faster seems now slow and long.
But we can’t say that physical and virtual mobility are equal. In the reality the movement is a physical experience, the body can feel it, it is involved in the movement. It can be in architecture or in transportations. These experience needs to use senses, to live physical meetings, interactions that can be felt as a danger. In opposition the virtual mobility is a movement by collecting information, readings, pictures, films and virtual interactions are made by online games, social network. The body is not involved that’s why it offers feeling of safety. It is possible to hide, to choose interactions.
For my part there are two reasons of the success of the virtual mobility.
First, it offers fair accessibility, so lot of people can use it. Everybody can access information, because it’s cheap. It also allows to move far, fast and to be in different place in the same time. As I already said it shrinks the world, one can speak to someone very far as he is just close by. Internet reduces the world and the distances. It allows meeting people, share, and create a network all over the world. In opposition of physical mobility, where the body is involved in a movement, a process, virtual movement can be stopped when you choose to stop it.
I think the second reason of the success is that virtual mobility balances physical complexes and social frustrations. It reduces physical contact, direct interactions leading to safety feeling. There is the possibility to hide, be someone else or find a new world where people are not frustrated like in second life or in videogames. These are others world to be involved, and create social contact. Internet is also a tool for self promotion more efficient than others in a bigger scale.
My point is that real and virtual world are connected one has consequences on the other. But I think there is two kind of mobility, the real one with body involvement, a process to go to place to place where the movement is an experience. The second one doesn’t involve senses but the brain to collect information. This is a new time of travelling, instantaneous and wider, where people can be in different place in the same time. But I think internet is a transfer of the real world in the virtual world, you can find every services of the real world and more. By new scale of time and distances it creates a new geography of the world, because it’s an infinite space not restricted by physical rules. So in a period we can see the frontier of the real world, we can travel in an unlimited virtual space.
World of warcraft
I would like to give an example of how the virtual mobility is wide and how it can change the vision of the real world. Before I came in Birmingham I made some research to know how was the city, so I went on internet and I found pictures about Birmingham. But I used Google earth and saw the city in 3D, I saw the city in its global nature, of course I didn’t felt the atmosphere of the city, but with street view I actually was in the city. When I came in Birmingham I didn’t discovered the city but I recognized it, particularly places like the bullring, the symphony hall or the Institute of Art and Design. In a way I came in Birmingham long time before my physical presence in the city.
My project is to show how there is two scale of mobility, represented two spheres, the little one is the real world with physical connection and another sphere around much bigger is the virtual world, much connected than the real world and continuing to extend. Strings will represent connections (social, business, culture…)
I don’t know if it’s a good idea but with some explanations, my point will be clear. These are my references, the friend wheel of facebook and other social map and the real world with physical end.
