Assignment 1 – Annotated Bibliography
Name: Panayiotis (Peter) Kyprianou s3661871
I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services
Blog reflections
Annotated Bibliography
Software Literacy Education and Beyond – Introduction (word count 567)
CRAIG HIGHT, E. K., ROB TORRENS, BRONWEN COWIE 2017. Software Literacy Education and Beyond.
The article outlines the role that software plays in our current society. It outlines how affordances, agency, human-machine assemblages, and performance are key concepts relevant to software studies. It highlights how software is a fundamental part of the infrastructure of modern society. This article aims to present to the reader how software works and how it shapes the way we think and act in relationship to our day to day life. It wants the reader to understand that nowadays all aspects of our society has a level of software interaction in it, whether it is as simple as buying groceries at the supermarket or as complicated as flying a fighter jet. Our lives are now heavily dependant on software, so this article aims to give the reader a better understanding of how it works. Throughout the article, Lev Manovich is heavily sited and uses a key quote of his to frame the introduction of the article; “I think of software as a layer that permeates all areas of contemporary societies.”
The article provides useful information explaining the basics of software studies to a targeted audience of academics, students, and people interested in software and perhaps are entering the field. The ideas put forward are supported from references from other media practitioners and people in the software studies field, particularly Manovich, Fuller, Hawk, Reider, Oviedo, Johnson, Kitchin and Dodge. The article however doesn’t use much statistical evidence which I found odd considering it keeps pushing the idea that software is such an integral part of modern society, so some statistical evidence would have been nice to support the claim. However, in saying that, just thinking about the things we interact with and use as media practitioners, the statistical evidence would not be needed as it is hard to even think of things that I use that don’t have some level of software in it or even used some level of software in the manufacturing process. As media practitioners we are in contact with cultural software, which is things like word processing, image manipulation, internet browsers and media players. Cultural software is identified as software that is central to cultural production. For instance, if I was to make a film without the aid of software it wouldn’t be able to be done. I wouldn’t be able to record, edit or even screen the film without using software.
The article presents original ideas like how advertising campaigns can be rapidly increased by social media that can quickly diverge into propaganda impacting society severely. This is important now more than ever especially in a time of fake news and the spread of misinformation that we have seen have monumental impacts on our governments and policies specifically. Its presentation of social interactions being influenced by social media is fairly startling as we know that software has a great deal of importance being part of our everyday lives. However, I didn’t realise just how influential it can be, especially on human interactions, something I think we all thought was without software interference. The article is a modern and up to date insight into the area of software studies. As technology progresses and software becomes even more of an integral part of our society with things like artificial intelligence and machine learning, this article should remain useful. It provides a good understanding of the basis of software studies and how it impacts our life.
The Design of Everyday Things – Affordances (word count 640)
NORMAN, D. 2002. The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books.
The book explores the affordances products have, which Donald Norman defines as the “perceived and actual properties of a product, primarily those fundamental properties that determine how the product could possibly be used”. The book focuses on the relationship between humans and the products that we use through visibility, constraints, affordances, natural mappings and feedback. It aims to show how by understanding the psychology of how humans interact with products you can design products with fewer issues. This theory is the basis of user-centred design, which Norman pioneered. Norman argues that whenever we as users interact with a product that doesn’t perform how we perceive it to, for instance pushing a door that you have to pull, it is not our fault as we tend to eagerly point out. But rather it is the fault of the designer designing a door that doesn’t work how we perceive it to. The perceived affordances of the door don’t match with the actual affordances.
I actually studied Industrial Design for two years before transferring to my current course. The first class I had in the Industrial Design course was a studio called ‘User-Centred Design’. In that we class we learnt all about Norman and how our designs must first and foremost be designed with the user in mind. How the user will use your product or system, whether you intend for it to be used in that manner or not. A lot of products nowadays are designed in a way that prioritises manufacturing and shipping, then puts the user secondary. Whereas Norman and the ‘user-centred design’ class focus on just that, user-centred-design. Designs that focus completely on the user experience. Instilling in us the principles that Norman pioneered. This book is almost like the bible for modern day design, expanding beyond just products into things like systems design for programs that we use as media practitioners on a day to day basis. The book is very influential, probably the most influential piece of design theory since Dieter Rams’ 10 commandments of good design released in the 1970’s. The book is targeted at designers first and foremost, however the principles presented can apply to multiple fields of study like academics, software engineers and media.
One point of contention that I have is the idea that every time a user interacts with a product not the way it was intended, it’s the designers for designing it that way and not the users. Any person not knowing how to use a product being victim to poor design seems reductive. I think to some extent it is the users. Not so much the user specifically, but rather the conventions that we as a society carry. Is it the designer’s fault for not designing with in the conventions, or the user’s fault for blindly following conventions? As Norman puts it; “use [conventions] with respect, violate them only with great risk”. Upon further reflection, Norman’s principles presented are almost revolutionary in this modern digital world. To think that we use computers. A piece of electronics that has no mechanical or moving parts that are visible. When we do see those internal parts, we don’t know what we are looking at, and on top of that, the only way to make it work is to talk to in a language that not many people understand (computer code). The fact that anybody is capable of using these pieces of alien technology quite easily and intuitively, let alone with the expertise and proficiency that some are capable of, is testament to how important user-centred design and this book is. If it weren’t for Norman and his principles of user-centred design, it may very well be possible that I would be writing this Annotated Bibliography on a screen that has green neon numbers moving vertically along a black background like in the Matrix.
New Media A Critical Introduction – The Network (word count 612)
LISTER, M. 2009. New media a critical introduction, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon New York, N.Y., Routledge.
This article explores the relationship between enthusiasm, politics, technology, and commerce. It analyses how the rise of the internet has also given a rise to new cultures that have become a threat to the interests and business practices of huge corporations whilst at the same time allowing new media conglomerates in online distribution, retailing and services to thrive. This article aims to help the reader understand the relationship between culture and commerce surrounding network media. For instance, the article explains how “Long Tail” economics is disrupting communities online. The internet allows niche audiences and cultures to form, however as soon as those niche audiences begin to gain traction advertisers and businesses come flocking, disrupting that niche community, kind of like drilling for oil in a pond. The articles sites Rocketboom as an example. Rocketboom is a comedy news revue produced online for nearly no budget however attracted 200,000 viewers a week and made $40,000 ad revenue in its first week of commercial sales. “whilst traditional advertising remains sceptical about the value of the Long Tail viral TV market it is only a matter of time before niche viewing communities deliver economically sustainable margins”.
The article provides a useful rational to its intended audience of students, academics and media practitioners explaining how the internet is affected by media companies, business and advertising as well as how those things affect the internet. The results are supported by references from other academic sources and media practitioners. It explores the ever-evolving nature of media and technology. However, although it is 12 years old, the principals and ideas presented are very relevant and current to modern day social media especially its ideas surrounding Web 2.0. The references, however, are outdated especially with mentions to My Space and other social media content that isn’t still operational. Additionally, the statistics, I suspect would have changed now especially with more users on social media and with more companies having a greater influence across the internet.
I did find the article to be very beneficial and useful overall as it touches on areas broader than just the internet. It also covers our politics, conventions and psychology surrounding our use of social media and the network. However, I contend the quote when referring to new media; “fresh with the imprint of living breathing individuals rather than the seamless patina of corporate product. (pp 229)”. Although this may have been the case in 2008 when this article was published, I think now this is becoming less true. Although social media does allow new individuals and opportunity compared to traditional media, social media is starting to show the “patina of corporate product”. A quick look on the trending page of YouTube and you see clips from late night tv shows, a current affair shows, news shows and other snippets from traditional media programs. Not to mention the devious nature of free social media usage costing us our data. I suspect that social media has been around for long enough now that it is becoming less new, even though we still call it ‘new media’. Similarly to how many people said that Facebook ‘died’ once there mum got on it. Traditional media programs and companies seem to have shifted majority of their business online now, so much so that the quote; “fresh with the imprint of living breathing individuals rather than the seamless patina of corporate product” doesn’t seem as true anymore. However, for the most part I do find this quote to be true. Although new media is comparatively new it isn’t going away anytime soon, so it was only a matter of time before it became politically, corporately and financially influenced or even controlled.