The vision seemed to enter the house with me -- the stretcher, the phantom-bearers, the wild crowd of obedient worshippers, the gloom of the forests, the glitter of the reach between the murky bends, the beat of the drum, regular and muffled like the beating of a heart -- the heart of a conquering darkness. It was a moment of triumph for the wilderness, an invading and vengeful rush which, it seemed to me, I would have to keep back alone for the salvation of another soul. And the memory of what I had heard him say afar there, with the horned shapes stirring at my back, in the glow of fires, within the patient woods, those broken phrases came back to me, were heard again in their ominous and terrifying simplicity. ~ Heart of Darkness
The books that we read have the amazing ability to induce within us empathy and a multitude of emotions and images through their use of words, the fuel that ignites the fires of our imagination. The plot, mood, tone, and atmosphere of a book all synthesize to influence the readers to feel and think a certain way whether it be hopeful or fearful , jubilation or grief.Reading the passage above, we are able to feel the character's fear and despair as dark memories pervade his mind. We are able to understand his anxious state, his quickening heartbeats, and even imagine the images that he sees. However, no matter how well immersed we are within the text, there is a limit to how much we can feel. Sitting at a desk or laying in our beds, we will never be able to completely place ourselves within the shoes of the character. With Sensory Fiction, though, we can break those boundaries and approach an entirely new level of reading.
The books that we read have the amazing ability to induce within us empathy and a multitude of emotions and images through their use of words, the fuel that ignites the fires of our imagination. The plot, mood, tone, and atmosphere of a book all synthesize to influence the readers to feel and think a certain way whether it be hopeful or fearful , jubilation or grief.Reading the passage above, we are able to feel the character's fear and despair as dark memories pervade his mind. We are able to understand his anxious state, his quickening heartbeats, and even imagine the images that he sees. However, no matter how well immersed we are within the text, there is a limit to how much we can feel. Sitting at a desk or laying in our beds, we will never be able to completely place ourselves within the shoes of the character. With Sensory Fiction, though, we can break those boundaries and approach an entirely new level of reading.
The book titled The Girl Who Was Plugged In is the first successful product of project led by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The purpose of this project is to design a book that can be worn by readers and that would allow readers to feel what the characters in the book feel. The book contains 150 LED lights, as well as an array of sensors and actuators and a body compression system located within the vest that readers would wear. As the readers progress through the story, the book emits ambient light and produces vibrations that simulate a character's or the story's mood.
For example, during passages where fear is what a character feels, the vest constricts around the wearer's stomach and back. For excitement, the book and vest vibrates, which increases the body's heart rate. During solemn moments, soft, dark light is emitted. The vest can even heat up to simulate a character's embarrassment. Such features would surely allow us a better, more interesting experience as we read.
Sensory Fiction has great potential and certainly more room for development. What we can look forward to in the future is the possibility that this technology can be implemented to both newer and older books. How would would it be like to read when this technology is applied to Shakespeare's plays or novels such as Frankenstein or The Heart of Darkness?
For example, during passages where fear is what a character feels, the vest constricts around the wearer's stomach and back. For excitement, the book and vest vibrates, which increases the body's heart rate. During solemn moments, soft, dark light is emitted. The vest can even heat up to simulate a character's embarrassment. Such features would surely allow us a better, more interesting experience as we read.
Sensory Fiction has great potential and certainly more room for development. What we can look forward to in the future is the possibility that this technology can be implemented to both newer and older books. How would would it be like to read when this technology is applied to Shakespeare's plays or novels such as Frankenstein or The Heart of Darkness?