Temporality denotes one's relation to time. In so many aspects of everyday life we feel our relation to time as one of acceleration. We can explore our temporalities through the subjective states of boredom, distraction, and the need to 'fill time' doing things. Yet, it seems unlikely that any study of our temporalities can do without deep consideration of the role of technology, and more specifically, digital technologies such as mobile screen devices. Choose a habit or practice we have with a digital device that exemplifies what we perceive as accelerated temporality. Argue how this temporality would likely be different in an earlier historical period, before the advent of the said device.
Cell Phones as Social Crutches/Clutches
Heidi Rae Cooley noted in her article on 'Fit' that she actually thinks better with her cell phone in hand, and continued to point out several ways we use our MSDs beyond their utilitarian functions. Describe one or two specific habits you practice with an MSD that have nothing to do with its designer's intentions. Use this habit as a way into exploring some facet of contemporary culture in general. (Hence, you should refrain from describing something idiosyncratic or particular to you or your personality, but rather describe something that other people do, as well.) Even though the MSD is not being used for its intended technological purpose, does the habit in question reveal anything extra about our digital lives that we don't usually think about? Feel free to cite any relevant sources on the subject.
Preview Selection
We may regard the inordinate amount of time we put into customizing our consumer choices, social media presence, or gaming avatars as a singularly first-world problem. From mixing & matching color patterns to tricking out our online spaces to selecting skins, the ubiquitous practice of Preview Selection indicates more than our contemporary fixation with design. It points to our desire to control, remodel, or tinker with affordances until an outcome is achieved that expresses our uniqueness to our accepted level of satisfaction. The irony that this display of personalization and consumer choice is always limited to a palette of pre-fabricated and mass-produced models sheds light on how we cope with our limited agency in a world constructed by conditions not of our own making. As Benson-Allott has said, there is a crucial difference between control and power--we choose to control the volume on our RCD but the power to actually grant those affordances is the purview of the manufacturer. Explore a specific example of Preview Selection that masks the illusion of power and the irony of the customization/standardization dichotomy.
Digitality as a 'Civilizing' Phenomenon
To crudely paraphrase Freud, civilization is our way of effectively masking our natural states; stripped of the comforts and affordances of civilization, humans would be like wolves to other wolves, "with each against each and all against all." (Freud seemed to have forgotten that wolves are pack animals, but no matter...) The concepts of 'civilization', 'civilized', 'civility', etc. are historically contingent cultural meanings. (What was considered civilized about race & gendered relations, for example, has changed dramatically over the course of the last century.) But these concepts are also suffused with hierarchical assumptions and therefore laden with ideologies of class, race, gender, and sexuality. Rethinking the root 'civil' in its more vexed and contentious meanings, focus on some aspect of digital culture that we may describe as 'civilized'. Unpack how it masks a tyranny even as we hold it dear and necessary to our everyday lives.
Advertisements that Don't Sell Anything
Manovich writes about the heightened value of 'experience' in the aestheticization of information tools, while adding that this turn in contemporary culture begins around the turn of the millennium. With reference to the value of experience in Manovich's article "The Back of Our Devices..." research the 'not selling anything' strategy of today's commercials. Cite what one or two articles say about this strategy and put them into conversation with Manovich's argument about the value of experience in the branding and marketing of goods and services.
The Clip as an Autonomous Media Format
It is arguable that the format of the clip, scene, or even Gif has become the preferred standard for today's media consumption. We may surmise this has something to do with our digital temporalities, and our impatience with content lasting more than five minutes. Identify what you take to be a major contributor to this development (Youtube, MPEG, fiber optic cable, reality television) and gather one or two sources to support your claim. Summarize and expand upon their argument.
The Temporalities of Facebook vs. Instagram vs. Twitter
Give a thick description of your temporality--your relation to time--on each of these formats. Be attuned to your subjective states in each--that is, certain intensities, expectations, compulsions, pleasures, frustrations, etc. that rise and fall in different rhythms in each environment. Report your mediated experiences dispassionately in order give a more critical account of how these media formats meld and hybridize with your being in the world, making you a uniquely suited post-human individual in each.
Convergence of Home-viewing and Movie Theaters
Why have many movie theaters decided recently to replace their seating with costly two-person reclining couches that are fewer in number? Cite what two or three articles have to say in answer to this question, and offer your own critical opinion on how this reflects on changing modes of spectatorship--i.e. our habits and practices of watching movies.
User Immobility
Briefly summarize Manovich's argument about the relationship between the subject's immobility, representation, and the screen. Choose a medium of representation that demands the user remain fixed or sedentary, and critique a habit or practice that has formed out of this relationship. From gobbling popcorn in movie theaters to channel surfing on the couch to gaming on our desktop computers--each corresponds to distinctly different ways the user is embodied or disembodied. Try to find something very specific and commonly overlooked in the way you engage in this activity, and offer a thick description of your experience.
What Is 'Civilized' About the Remote Control?
Benson-Allott's mention of the remote control as the second most 'civilized' invention since Thomas Crapper's toilet was rhetorical--part facetious and part in earnest. It invites us to consider why this simple common device is so important and worthy of scholarly attention. With reference to her article and if you wish, another, answer this 'so what' question in your own words. Boil down your argument, finally, by asking one or two more specific questions for further research.
Customization
Negroponte asserts that in the digital age, "Everything is made to order, and information is extremely personalized" (162). Manovich marks this turn from the mass-standardization of consumer products as another aspect of post-industrialization. Our culture of customization is everywhere visible but especially with respect to consumption of digital content: setting preferences, navigating menus, choosing options, thematizing interfaces, personalizing ringtones, adding extensions, downloading apps, upgrading base models, and so on. Such a widespread and ubiquitous practice requires that we carefully frame our research problem and questions. Develop a research problem around a specific example of customization and then contextualize it within the broader trajectory of the post-industrial age. Follow the process outlined in your lab report assignments.
Flow as an Historical Formation
Re-read the dictionary entry on Raymond Williams's concept of 'Flow'. Choose a period of 10-15 years since 1975 and investigate how changes in technology, industry, design, and user experience have conspired to produce a different type of flow. Pay special attention to the unique differences between the two periods and comment on some broader implications. Add evidence from articles, editorials, or blogs to support your argument.
The Changing Landscape of Advertising
The Bellamy & Walker reading provides a concise history of the collusion of commercial interests, studio programming, and government regulation to produce an indomitable and highly versatile model for the entertainment industry. Whenever this model is threatened by new technological affordances, such as the RCD, industry deftly responds with counter-strategies. Detail an example of the three-way relationship between advertising, user affordance, and a form of digital content (e.g. Youtube, Hulu, Itunes, etc.). How has the user affordance threatened the model and how has the advertising industry maneuvered in response? Find an article to support your argument.
Buttons vs. Touch-screens
At the level of touch, buttons and touch-screens provide subtle but important differences in feedback during digital interfacing. Our digits acquire a tactile memory that is cognitively mapped onto our digital devices, which is especially helpful for interfacing blindly, in the dark, or with our eyes otherwise engaged. Choose two devices, one that relies on physical buttons and another that uses touch-screen technology. Compare the advantages of material vs. digital interfaces for each device's respective function. Argue whether or not buttons--which have been so vital to 20th century technological devices--are undergoing obsolescence now due to the advent of touch-screens. Cite an article that engages this topic.
The History of Adapters
Adapters provide material and historical evidence of the intersections between consumer demand, technological innovation, and planned obsolescence. Present two brief case studies of adapters for technological devices: one from before, and one after, 1970. What can each tell you about the aforementioned three-way intersection? Does the materiality of the adapter itself provide any further cues?
Formatting Issues
The rapid rate of technological and security innovation brings necessary changes, updates, and new formats for hardware platforms and software programs. This not only rouses anxiety about preserving older digital content, but also demands constant vigilance for maintenance and upkeep. Yet another concern is compatibility and the problems of digital communication across incompatible file formats, hardware platforms, and software either outdated or restricted by our hardware's specifications. Open a case study to explore one or more of these issues while engaging an outside source on the topic.
Historicize this cultural formation. Where did the phrase come from? Will a Google Ngram search reveal a date of origin? How does it relate to the 'Media Marathon'? Research what some scholars or critics have written on these topics, and provide your own critical opinion of what this cultural form implies about contemporary users.
User Mobility
Briefly summarize Manovich's argument about the relationship between the subject's mobility, simulation, and the virtual (in "The Screen and the User"). Choose a subject that exemplifies a mobile subject in spectatorial immersion (e.g. google glasses, Oculus Rift, 19th century panoramas, etc.) and research what scholars or critics have said with respect to the user's desire to be mobile. Thinking of medium specificity, what aspects of the device in question are most important to users--immersion, verisimilitude, portability--and why? What leads to the success of one mobile device over another such as the portable "Safari" television?
Working to Erase Digital Content
Manovich wrote that "in cyberspace we have to work to forget." Analyze a habit or practice of everyday digital interfacing and the importance to you of having to clean, erase, rearrange, or otherwise maintain the space on a continual basis. Give a thick description of why this practice is important to you. Provide your own critical opinion on the subject of organizing workflow in the digital era with reference to one or two other articles.
Anxiety of Preserving Digital Content
The flip side of having to work to forget is our anxiety of having to remember, by storing our valuable documents, images, and other media in a secure, digital format. First research an article or two on the security or lack thereof of digital files, and comment upon it in terms of a user's anxiety. Second, examine this issue in your own life by giving a specific example--try to bring specific problem(s) to light that we don't usually think of, for example, the way material clutter continues to mutely nag at us to be whisked away to the 'nebulous' cloud.
Wikispaces Interface
Critique the Wikispaces interface as a pedagogical tool for a class such as this. You may choose to compare and contrast its advantages with other platforms, and/or probe deeply into some of its features that strongly condition the types of knowledge produced on this site. You might think about it in terms of Manovich's argument of how contemporary HCI design seems to pre-program our thoughts ("The Myth of Interactivty", 60-1). Cite any articles analyzing Wikispaces' strengths or weakness as you deem appropriate.
Proliferation & Consolidation of Media Devices
As we reach from one device to another to fulfil different functions, the aspiration to have one device, portal, or screen to rule them all continues to whisper in the back of our minds. Thus in our age of consumer electronics, we constantly see the 'All-in-One' accessory, the 'Smart' appliance, the Universal remote control, etc. Examine this issue with respect to a particular set of products and with reference to one or two articles. Offer your own critical opinion.
Network
As mentioned in class, several of us (spoiled brats) have around 10 internet-connected devices (ICD) in our homes, almost of all of which have a screen of some sort. What started as a question about numbers of screens in homes was answered in terms of ICDs (and the screen attached to them was implied), which reveals the underlying issue of 'network'. Is being networked a privilege not unlike being white, male, heterosexual, and upper-middle class? Research this issue with reference to one or two articles on the subject. Summarize and comment upon their argument and add in some world data on the average of networked citizens in the Global South (or otherwise 'underdeveloped' countries).
Search Engine Optimization
Give a brief summary of how search engine optimization works and when it started becoming so important to the public. Find and summarize the main points of an article that explains why S.E.O. has been necessary for this particular business, service, professional, or public figure. How does Google specifically figure into this problem as compared to other search engines?
TV Screen Size
Briefly graph the average increase in TV screen size since the 1950s. Provide a brief history of the portable television. When was the portable TV invented? Were they popular? What habits and practices formed around them? Look at some of the marketing imagery for both portable and large screen TVs: do people’s actual habits and practices correlate with these marketed images?
Number of Screens in Households
What’s the average numbers of screens (TV, computer, tablet, cell phone, handheld videogame) in an American household today? Briefly graph the average increase in screens since the 1950s. Find an article that comments on this topic. Summarize it and offer your own critical opinion.
Family Radio Entertainment
When did people start to gather communally and listen to the radio in the living room? When did the radio begin to move to other rooms, and did this depend on their size? Did the size of the radio depend on new technologies, and if so, which ones? What preceded the practice of living room radio entertainment?
The Living Room
Where did the term ‘living room’ come from, and when did they start to appear in American homes? What, if anything, preceded the living room? What purpose was the living room intended to serve and how did this differ from previous spaces? Name any other causal or correlational factors connected to the advent of the living room.
Video Stores
Briefly graph the number of video stores in America from when they began to start closing until today. Consider how this has affected people’s viewing habits and practices. Find an article that comments on any point during this historical moment. Summarize the argument and give your own critical opinion.
Non-material Digital Movies
Consider the difference between watching a movie on DVD or VHS vs. streaming it on Netflix. How does the presence or absence of a material disc or cassette (and also their packaging) change our viewing practices and affective involvements? Find an article that comments upon this difference, then summarize it and give your critical opinion.
Early Education in Literacy Forms
In pgs 12-13 of “The Medium is the Message” McLuhan considers whether early familiarization with one medium can block introduction to others. He gives the example of Viennese composer Carl Orff, who would not train students in music if they were already literate in reading and writing. Find an article that explores this issue with respect to reading and writing literacy being jeopardized by the early learning of any other medium (music, videogames, television, comics, etc.). Summarize their argument and give your own critical opinion.
The Medium
Give an extensive etymology of the term medium. When did the public start to use it to refer to communication media? What are some advantages of McLuhan’s broad use of the term? What are some important distinctions between communication media and other McLuhanesque media such as clothes, houses, and cars?
Latest Round:
Temporality
Cell Phones as Social Crutches/Clutches
Preview Selection
Digitality as a 'Civilizing' Phenomenon
Advertisements that Don't Sell Anything
With reference to the value of experience in Manovich's article "The Back of Our Devices..." research the 'not selling anything' strategy of today's commercials. Cite what one or two articles say about this strategy and put them into conversation with Manovich's argument about the value of experience in the branding and marketing of goods and services.
The Clip as an Autonomous Media Format
The Temporalities of Facebook vs. Instagram vs. Twitter
Convergence of Home-viewing and Movie Theaters
User Immobility
What Is 'Civilized' About the Remote Control?
Customization
Flow as an Historical Formation
The Changing Landscape of Advertising
Buttons vs. Touch-screens
The History of Adapters
Formatting Issues
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Binge-watching
User Mobility
Working to Erase Digital Content
Anxiety of Preserving Digital Content
Wikispaces Interface
Proliferation & Consolidation of Media Devices
Network
Search Engine Optimization
TV Screen Size
Number of Screens in Households
Family Radio Entertainment
The Living Room
Video Stores
Non-material Digital Movies
Early Education in Literacy Forms
The Medium