This week’s readings covered a lot of ground both regarding theory and the practical elements of social media networking and the physical structure of the internet (or web) itself.

Web 2.0 is a more complex and abstract idea than it initially appears. The distinction between Web 1.0 and web 2.0 is essentially a retrospective distinction which doesn’t really describe differences in infrastructure but rather a difference in attitude towards the use of the internet. I was particularly interested in the way in which the approach to Web 2.0 was described as being driven by the desire to monetize the internet and the initial failed attempts by capitalists and entrepreneurs to do just this.

I found some of the ideas and attitudes described in the readings to be a little dated. “The danger of participation is that there are hundreds or even thousands of potentially critical eyes watching every entry. A faulty fact will be challenged, a lie will be uncovered, plagiarism will be discovered. Cyberspace is a truth serum” is a quote used in Understanding Social Media. I can see how theoretically this idea is plausible, however it fails to accurately depict the practical reality of the user driven platform which is the internet and the human nature of its users. For the internet to be a truth serum, users need to fact check information disseminated by platforms, and have a platform big enough and influential enough to be able to believably refute false statements made on social media.

There is something almost Marxist in the description of the dichotomy between user and used, controller and control reflecting the ongoing tension between the proletariat and bourgeoisie. The paradoxical nature of the user driven internet and user-as-product paradigm described brings to mind the limitless possibilities of anarchy juxtaposed with the power dynamics inherent in neoliberal capitalism.  Updating to remain the same describes the logic of software upgrading to be fundamentally neoliberal in nature. I was surprised a discussion of neoliberal-capitalist recuperation was not included, as the profit motive, indeed capitalism itself, seems to have an uncanny and almost unstoppable capacity to coopt methods of subverting traditional power structures and regurgitating them back to the masses for profit.

While it is true that social media platforms have allowed communities to organize in the face of totalitarian censorship, it is also true that the driving force behind the creation and dissemination of the platforms themselves is capital and therefore will ultimately serve the interests of capital.

REFERENCES:

Chun, W.H.K 2016, Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media, MIT Press, Massachusetts, USA.  pp. 1-20.

Hinton, S & Hjorth L 2013, Understanding Social Media. Sage Publications, London, UK. pp. 1-31.

Assignment 1- Annotated Bibliography
Name: Shaun Rimes s3530111

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

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Annotated Bibliography

Selected text 1 – Software Literacies (word count 512)

Khoo, E, Hight, C, Torrens, R & Cowie, B 2017, ‘Introduction: Software and other Literacies’  Software Literacy: Education and Beyond, Springer, Singapore, SG. pp. 1-12.

Software literacy is a complex and multifaceted idea. Traditional understanding of software literacy usually describes the set of skills used to interact with and manipulate software. Software Studies takes a boarder approach to the idea of software literacy.

Software underpins many aspects of modern life, it functions in the background of industry, socialization and interaction; hospitals, education, government, transport, finance and communication (to name a few) are all heavily reliant on software to carry out integral functions. Software Studies approaches software literacy in terms of interaction between user and software. It conceptualizes software as both an agent through which a person can access media, but also as a medium in and of itself. By virtue of the fact that users interact with software, each interaction is unique and not static in the way that traditional media is static. For example, a hard copy document is fixed, whereas a word document is changeable, it evolves as the user interacts with the word processing software. This has a series of implications, not only for the product of the software itself but also, theoretically, may impact the way users think about information. Software Studies describes the affordances of software, those aspects of software that offer users frameworks within which to interact. These frameworks offer agency to the user in the form of avenues through which to interact with software. However, they also constitute restrictions as they confine the user to actions within the affordances available. This means that software is both a product of the function for which it was created to perform, but also influences the nature of the function itself. Further, it influences the way the user conceptualizes that action for which the software was created.

The interactive nature of software is not limited to software and user, software exists within a network and human users are social and also exist within a kind of network. The pervasive nature of software in modern society profoundly impacts the way human users conceptualize information, perform functions and interact with each other. This gives software producers significant power. The affordances of software both offer agency while simultaneously restricting the nature of, and possible outcomes of user-software interaction.

Due to the dynamic and interactive nature of software, literacy is conceptualized as more than the foundational skill set needed to perform the basic functions of a program. Software Studies suggests that basic skills will allow a user to operate within the framework offered by a given piece of software, however literacy is demonstrated by the capacity not only to independently problem solve and customize software, but to critique it.

This is conceptually and theoretically very interesting. It is clear that software has influenced culture in a multitude of ways, social media has influenced human psychology, artistic reception and the global nature of communication. However, the affordances of software exist for the purpose of performing a function (the very function for which the software was created). Giving users so much agency within a given constructed framework could in fact undermine the very function the software was created to perform.

Selected text 2 – Affordances (word count 563)

Norman, D 2002, The design of everyday things, Basic Books, New York, USA. Sections (preface vii-xv; pp. 1-13; 81-87; 177-186).

Design Of Everyday Things describes the psychology of design and the way in which the design of everyday objects encourages users to engage with these objects. DOET postulates that human error resulting from the use of objects or appliances is primarily if not entirely the result of flawed design, as opposed to fault on the part of the human user.  This is illustrated by a number of examples from extremely basic objects like doors, to more complex appliances like computers.

The general hypothesis is that various aspects of design indicate to users the way in which an object should be effectively used. If an object is designed successfully, its function will be reliably intuited by a person who has never seen it before.  These design principles describe both the physicality of objects, the moveable or changeable aspects of objects which comprise processes and the execution of function of an object or appliance.

The basic principles described are visibility, constraint, affordances, natural mappings and feedback. Visibility describes the level to which the function of an object is visible to the user, for example when a cup is full, the user can see that the action has been performed. Constraints describes the ways in the use of an object is limited and therefore communicates what the object does by virtue of what it cannot do. Affordances describes the function that an object offers the user for example the finger holes in scissors indicate which fingers are to be placed in which holes by virtue of their size. The design communicates to the user how the scissors are to be held. Natural mappings describe the indicated interaction between user and object, and feedback describes the way in which an object communicates to the user that the task has been completed. Feedback is particularly relevant to computers, as their function is largely invisible and feedback must be programmed into the function of the computer. If an appliance does not demonstrate that the action of the user has accomplished the task, the user is likely to erroneously perform the function multiple times.

These ideas are certainly applicable to design, the user-friendly quality of various appliances can be what makes or breaks them in the market place and has obvious and legitimate implications for the use of an object particularly within the sphere of complex appliances like computers. However, DOET takes this idea to an almost comical or absurd length when it describes a person’s failure to correctly use a door as a failure of design and not a failure of common sense. This kind of black and white thinking leads to the kind of design that caters to the lowest common denominator and essentially insults the intelligence of the average person by assuming that they will not be able to adequately operate a door unless all possibilities for error are eliminated by the very design of the door. When applied moderately however, and particularly in the context of information technology these ideas are particularly relevant.

DOET suggests that when the design of computer technology adequately employs the principles of design, the computer itself becomes invisible. For example, when one is driving a car one does not think of oneself as “using a computer”, the use of the computer is disguised behind the experience of driving a car as the computer technology blends seamlessly with the function of driving.

Selected text 3 – The Network (word count 562)

Niederer, S 2018, Networked images: visual methodologies for the digital age,  Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam. pp. 1-20.

“Networked images” describes research methods into digital imagery in the modern age. It describes a number of factors which need to be considered and applied to create a detailed and effective methodology for collecting and analyzing the way images are manifested and interpreted on digital platforms.

Niederer describes the way in which visual images can be analyzed as both data and content. What is particularly relevant is the interconnectedness or “networkedness” of images on digital platforms. The visual methodologies program proposes an approach to analysis which is contextualized by the dynamic nature of images on digital platforms. This includes the ways in which images are shared, adapted, engaged with and distributed. Images on digital platforms can be understood and interpreted as data, an approach which collects visual imagery on a given platform and allows the researcher to identify patterns or observe the movement of images. This method evolves into an understanding of images as content. Researching images as content involves looking at series of images which exist as a set. Approaching the research of visual images across digital platforms as dynamic, as “content” opens up areas of research which may otherwise be obscure. Niederer describes digital media platforms as not only avenues for the distribution of images but also as space in which they are produces. The moveable, changeable and networked nature of digital media platforms offers researchers insight not only into the way people use images, but they ways in which various platforms facilitate and generate their own unique style. This can show trends in cultural attitudes towards certain issues but more importantly allows insight into way various platforms “perform” certain issues. The example put forward here is the nature of images most prominently displayed on Wikipedia before and after America withdrew from the Paris agreement.

Various disciplines of study are relevant to the development and analysis of this kind of research methodology. Simple data collection and analysis is not broad enough to give a nuanced and relevant interpretation of the meaning of such data. Input from art theory, anthropology and various humanities is drawn upon to give context and relevance to the findings of such research.

The unique way in which various digital social media platforms perform certain issues is called platform vernacular. By collecting and analyzing the kinds of images most engaged with across various platforms, researchers are able to articulate the flavor of various platforms. Again, the example used was the way various platforms performed the issue of climate change. This was essentially done by collecting the most engaged with images on various platforms and collating them into a single image. The platform vernacular indicates the ways in which platforms encourage engagement and therefor the way in which the platform is used. These different “perspectives” serve to portray the issue of climate change in different ways and through different contexts.

The monumental volume of data and constant changing nature of digital media platforms could present significant problems to such research. Ascribing significance to the ways in which images are engaged with on various social media platforms assumes that such a hierarchy of relevance exists in the practical use of social media. Research into engagement with images themselves gives little insight into the motives behind such engagement and perhaps does little to accurately describe or give insight into the reality of the everyday user or into the cultural zeitgeist.

The reading about “networked images” is essentially a description of various approaches to research into an area of media and digital technology that is new and exciting, that is, if you get excited about research methods. It was fairly data heavy and assumed a set of knowledge about research methods and theory behind research.

I found the introduction to the reading convoluted and difficult to engage with, however once I got into the reading I was fascinated by the theoretical framework that it proposed. The descriptions of the ways in which various social media platforms “do” ideas and concepts is a novel way of thinking about social media and cultural consciousness. It was certainly interesting to think about how social media platforms can influence the way individual users will engage with a social issue, particularly if users confine themselves to a single platform. While I found the ideas themselves engaging,

I found myself wondering about how the outcomes or conclusions of such research might be developed or practically applied. It seemed like a seriously data heavy and labor-intensive project to undertake for a theoretical framework which seemed to me, interesting but not necessarily very useful. Perhaps this is a demonstration of my own lack of imagination about the applications of such research, or perhaps I simply find it difficult to get too excited about the prospect of compiling hundreds of millions of images and drawing conclusions about the aesthetic “action” of such data. In any event, I found the content novel and interesting, but ultimately the prospect of carrying out such labor-intensive research into social media platforms makes me sad.

REFERENCE:

Niederer, S 2018, Networked images: visual methodologies for the digital age, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam. pp. 1-20.

My experience reading the design of everyday things was mixed. I found many of the ideas were really engaging and they provided a unique perspective on elements of design that honestly would never have occurred me to think about otherwise. I did find the ideas to be a little black and white for my tastes, the idea that any person struggling to use a commonplace object is a victim of flawed design is a little reductive. The descriptions of people getting stuck between doors because they couldn’t figure out which side to push was comedy gold.

Having said that, the way he describes and identifies the elements of design which impact people’s capacity to engage with the object was very creative. The implications for more complex elements of design certainly bear thinking about. The user-friendly nature of something like a kettle or a pair of scissors is probably useful for a theoretical understanding of what the author is describing, but for me, the ideas really gain traction when he describes the implications for the use of computers and information technology. The idea that computers become invisible, their existence being obscured by the performance of the task, provided the design is well executed is particularly relevant.

The prolific nature of digital technology in today’s society made me genuinely consider the ways in which computers and software have infiltrated every element of my life and modern society. The trap with an idea like this is that it has the potential to externalise the focus of control in one’s life. It would be nice to think that every time I made a mistake or misused an object causing some accident was the fault of the object, but when taken to its extreme, this perspective hinders self-determination and stops people from being responsible for the outcomes of their actions.

REFERENCE:

Norman, D 2002, The design of everyday things, Basic Books, New York, USA. Sections (preface vii-xv; pp. 1-13; 81-87; 177-186).

I found the reading on Software Literacy fascinating, and is certainly a point of contention in today’s society with everything becoming more and more digitalized and so much social interaction being conducted on social media. More than that, the impact of social media on the general public’s understanding of, and interaction with social issues is prolific.

The propaganda and advertising campaigns which are proliferated by social media have a significant impact on so many elements of society including the reception of media and even politics. The implications of the ideas described in this reading are fairly monumental. I was particularly interested by the idea that the design of software can impact the way people view and interpret information and understand things like social interaction.

There is something practically dystopian about the idea that a social media platform like facebook, by virtue of its software design, could influence the way humans understand their relationships to each other and by extension, themselves. I am reminded of “newspeak” from 1984 in which peoples capacity to think about certain ideas is limited by the governments limitation and reduction of language. Theoretically, the idea that the affordances of social media platforms could impact the way people think about relationships has fairly alarming implications for the human condition itself.

REFERENCE:

Khoo, E, Hight, C, Torrens, R & Cowie, B 2017, ‘Introduction: Software and other Literacies’  Software Literacy: Education and Beyond, Springer, Singapore, SG. pp. 1-12.