"In the 1990's as the internet progressively grew into popularity, the role of the digital computer shifted from being a particular technology... to a filter for all culture, a form through which all kinds of cultural and artistic production were mediated." This idea is one I've rarely really thought about(maybe I avoided thinking about it)-- this idea that now, as a society, we view the gallery, the book, and the cinema in a web browser. We listen to our music in the virtual world. Reflecting on my lifestyle, I realized that I get my news, movies, (some) visual inspiration and music almost solely on my computer and most often with the internet. It's inherent usage in these activities made it so that I never had to think about it. With that in mind, this idea is especially interesting in context of our last project-- where we forced the user to do almost everything via the computer or iphone screen. This isn't to say that it was all about the computer. For Alicia and I the computer/iphone combo was mostly used to support real life activities, but it's constant involvement is still there.
At the beginning of the reading the author makes a bizarre, yet relevant, connection to blade runner and the aesthetics that were created for the computer and the movie. I find it interesting how now, as a design community and as designers with this new project, we're both trying to break free of the rectangular aesthetic and usage while also embracing it's consistencies to help the user navigate our interfaces. Later the author says "the interface shapes how the computer user conceives of the computer itself. It also determines how users think of any media object accessed via a computer". In my mind this means that when we use a specific interface in our portfolio sites it affects how the user sees our portfolio. Later he says "stripping different media of their original distinctions, the interface imposes it's own logic on them." Does this mean that my print work loses it's context? I don't think so-- not if it's displayed with some kind of differentiation from the digital work. Or if it's displayed in the way Jessica uses in one of her ideas-- with an interactive page turn. I could even go around it all together and include PDF's so that the user can print and have mini's of my projects. (slightly narcissistic I know, but it would be cool right?)
I also love that the author brings in Karl Marx's idea of overcoming the work/leisure divide. It's so incredibly relevant to us now with our habitual pattern of: design(work), design while listening to music, check facebook, read the news, design, play a game, pay bills, repeat. Work and play are inherently intertwined with something like the internet. There are ads for fun the instant we open a web page, for god's sake. And it's not only interesting in the context of those ideas and the ideas presented but also with what we're doing in class. We're basically playing around with programs and interface concepts to eventually use our results in our work. Marx is rolling in his grave; playing to fulfill work. ha.
There's one last quote I found interesting. In the early 90's the computer was seen as a tool (which is they way I'd like to see it now) but it's evolved into something else. The author describes this saying "In short we are no longer interfacing to a computer but to a culture encoded in digital form." This can play to our advantage as designers, inherently making it easier to develop systems and interfaces. At the same time, it scares me how the computer has evolved into an entire culture-- a culture that sometimes-ahem-takes over reality. It's a little bit of a love/hate situation for me. Idealistically it'd be nice to go back to reading a book by the fire, watching movies in a cinema, listening to music on a record player and picking up a newspaper each morning. But the computer affords so much, that in reality it's best to embrace it and develop interfaces that use the concepts mentioned in the reading. By embracing these concepts, we create new experiences and uses for people. We can push and manipulate the way people interact with the computer and digital world.
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