Having an unrestricted internet, Are we in one of the Last free unregulated social networking time periods? Like many technological advances before it the internet, it is threatened by regulations, most recently Network Neutrality, this one most likely won't go anywhere, but what's next??? ENjoy it while it lasts.

Also, On a Barely Related Note, Matthew Barney was mentioned in the Reading as an techno-noir artist similar to the driector of Blade Runner. Matthew Barney is going to be at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC Wednesday, Is anyone Going?

Hirshhorn Museum

The Interface

What happens when an interface does not allow for the user to access the function that it needs or wants to reach, that is within the construct of the interface? And as a follow up to that, what happens when a user tries to solve the problem and find away around the interface to access the restricted information?

1.Since the interface changes how we view information through a computer and "imposes its own logic on them" won't the same facts appear different to each person who views it, whereas with a book every copy is equal to another therefore everyone is has equal facts. If in the future books and printed information become obsolete how will one know what version of the facts is true?

2.Can any one person claim to be the sole creator of computer based art if it first goes through a programmer and a computer program?

The Interface

While reading this article, I was especially interested when Manovich spoke about how technology and the use of the computer has changed over the past twenty years. Having grown up with computers I didn't realize just how drastic the progress has been since the early 80s. My first question is, is the progress of computers and our society's increasing reliance on them healthy for our culture? I, myself, sometimes worry that because computers and the work that can be done on them is becoming increasingly more valued, i idea of something handmade, and even something with human flaws is becoming more rare. My second question is a follow-up to that statement: should the work of computers be valued equally to the work of man?

1. According to the book, we engage in more activities during a typical day than Karl Marx imagined. Then it states that "Yet in performing all these different activities, the user in essence is always using the same tools and commands: a computer screen and a mouse, a Web brower; a search engine; cut, paste, copy, delete, and find commands." Isn't it unreliable to argue that the user in essence is always involved in the stated activities? It seems more of an assumption, rather than a proved factor.

2. Is it possible to think that the increasing development of technology, including GUI, may result in "dark, decayed, "postmodern" society as in Blade Runner?

1. In discussing the AL evolutionary programs, or whatever, Manovitch writes, "the content of [a new media] artwork is the collaboration" between artist/programmer, computer, and viewer. This does not seem like a ground-breaking, interface-related idea; couldn't it be argued that all artistic content (especially in performance and installation) is partially based on the viewer's response and participation?

2. Why would Karl Marx ever want to overcome the work-leisure divide? Weak.

The Interface

According to the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, what would the world would be like if the new interface was able to translate all codes?"

The Interface

In the direction technology is advancing, do you think Video Games and other computer enterainment will become the new "interactive" media?