The Multi-Sensory Digital World

So here we go with my rant on Group 2 technologies which I dub 'The Senses'.

I will forgo the references to touch, taste and smell in this post but when the technology becomes better to transmit these experiences digitally (I've always wanted smell-0-vision).

So lets explore those other senses that we can use in a digital context, sight and sound.

All jokes aside there is a revolution that has occurred and we are not even aware of it. In the past the ability of the average person in the developed world to communicate was limited to direct communication using a text or voice based delivery system think letters and phone calls and talking to someone right in front of you, and using any other medium or platform was the realm of experts, think radio, television, professional photographers and artists. But as the technology has got better and 'easier' the ability of the average Joe to use different mediums has increased, and the ability to broadcast those new mediums has grown too.

So now not only can everybody write and speak, but we can generate images, Moving image, illustrations, modified sound, and music, and more and more it's easier to combine all of these in different combinations to create personal ways of communicating that are tailored to how an individual best expresses themselves and to how your audience will best respond.

This evolution of the ease of multiple expression is most evident in the social media world. Originally text Blogs were all the rage on expression and then in became easier to add images and then video but that was very much a one way expression. When platforms like Facebook and twitter came online then the conversation became more Multi-directional but still grounded with text and image and sound accompanying. Now there are platforms that make audio and visual the main focus like Imgr, Instigram, Soundcloud and Audioboo, and there is even and new platform called Pheed which allows all modes of communication to be integrated in any area whether its a post, message or comment, so you can post a like and have a audio file as a comment and a then 3 more images as a full conversation.

I believe this is a natural progression. We as humans derive the most useful cues in conversation from body language and vocal intonation, so its's natural we would want to have those same resources when we communicate in any context in order get our point across.