Virtuality as place and process

Abstract

Virtual worlds are conventionally understood as representational places, or alternate realities more or less set apart from the real world. However, in considering new and emergent technologies, such as social media sites and augmented reality devices, which complicate any easy distinction between virtual and real, we contend that virtuality should also be understood as a matter of process, or the means by which virtualisation is realised. Focusing on theorisations clustered around Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, we compare Baudrillardian concepts to other possible theorisations in order to shed light on practices including transmediation and information management at the dawning of the age of Big Data.

Keywords:

• virtual reality
• comparative theory
• place
• process
• transmedia
• digital

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nikhilesh Dholakia

Nikhilesh Dholakia is Professor in the College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, USA. His research deals with selected aspects of globalisation, technology, innovation, market processes and consumer culture. In many of his writings, he strives to bring in critical and non-mainstream perspectives, especially from a macroangle. Among his books are Consuming People: From Political Economy to Theaters of Consumption (Routledge, 1998, with A.F. Fırat) and Toward a Metatheory of Economic Bubbles: Socio-Political and Cultural Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, with R.V. Turcan).

Ian Reyes

Ian Reyes is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island, USA. His teaching and research represent critical, sociocultural approaches to media including audio recording, popular music and video games. His work aims to deconstruct the reciprocal determination of technology, culture and society to better understand and critique everyday experiences with entertainment media. He is keenly interested in the digital turn and the concomitant new ways of producing, distributing and consuming media content.