Wendy Chun – Programmed Visions, (book, pp. 1-2, and optionally pp. 3-10)
Software is the underlying agent in new media. You don’t have to write code to use it as the Adobe programs are software as well. It’s the software that allows us new ways to navigate and research our world, yet software is difficult to understand. No one knows how everything works, so there is this constant element of the unknown, and so a paradox of exploring the unknown with the unknown.
How can we make software more known? Can we?
Matthew Fuller – How to be a Geek (book, pp. 12-14, and optionally pp. 63-71)
Geeking out is kin to being obsessive. A geek is enthusiastic and driven to know more and more about whatever it is they’re geeking out about. Typically geeks are related to technology, and the new media geeks out there today are living in a sweet time of development and change. Software and digital technologies are blooming and giving us a new way to visualize abstract ideas. However, those who aren’t so enthusiastic about software and such are left in the dust, so to speak. There is a pretty big gap between those who know and those who don’t, and this inevitably leads to the geeks creating and deciding everything regarding software.
What kinds of things can we do to bridge the gap, or at least create a common knowledge or literacy regarding software?
Geert Lovink – Sad by Design (podcast w/ Douglas Rushkoff, 60m)
Social media platforms, and other forms of digital technology these days have an anti-human agenda. Instead of using a product, people are the product. The software is designed to lure, hook, and keep our attention. While we know this, it is very difficult to remove ourselves from these services because they are deeply intertwined with our offline lives; we feel connected to others when we see that they are “online”, as if it were a real meeting place. This, in turn, adds to the sadness that online media provides. We think we are connected, but we miss out on the real-world connections. Instead of smashing the phone, we’re urged to overcome the phone.
What ways can we work towards “overcoming the phone”, or at least not letting it control our lives?
Soren Pold – New ways of hiding: towards metainterface realism (article)
The metainterface is the hidden framework, or main controlling component, of digital media. It aims to be invisible, and psychological tactics are used to cover it up, make it look pretty, and keep us coming back for more. The metainterface is where our data is collected, and where the results of our data is fed back to us.
While generally invisible, you can catch a glimpse of (part of) Facebook’s metainterface by using Safebook. This extension removes everything from Facebook except the functions: the functionality of the spaces to click, type, and more, yet no decoration. This allows us to see many of the ways we give Facebook our information. After using Safebook and turning it off, there is still the eerie metainterface lingering in the background. All the bones and buttons and varying avenues of data collection, they’re all there, just dolled up to grab our attention and take what data we feed them.
Should we have strict guidelines regarding internet usage? What kinds of impacts could this have on future users?