An Interview With Andrew Feenberg

An Interview with Andew Feenberg, by Mark Zachry, illustrates Andrew Feenberg’s professional ideologies and theories. Feenberg is known for his ideologies of technology in contemporary society. He is said to focus on the ways in which technologies and society interact with and influence one another. He studied the creation of advancing technologies and redefining of current/past technologies. Much of his work is centered on human agency. His concerns with agency refer to the ability to act upon something and shape it; his main interest is the influence of users on the recreating of technology. Suggestions derive from usage by users. Feenberg seems to be fond of hackers, yet mainly because he wants to get more people involved and encourages decentralization.


Feenberg explains that technology cannot be designed without some type of agenda yet the technology should still remain open and neutral. By remaining neutral, the technology/device serves many purposes and can be used in many ways. A portion of the interview entailed structures that limited human choices as well as the consequences of such limitations. Feenberg also noticed that people tend to change information technologies into communication technologies of which they more naturally relate to. For example, the telephone was primarily invented for government, business, political, and policing means yet it mutated into a device shared by all people for social purposes. In the past, Facebook was only available to students who went to college yet outsiders hacked system which served as an eye-opener for Aaron Greenspan, Facebook founder, and his committee. Not long after, Facebook became available not only to students, but to everyone. Feenberg’s theorizations may relate to that of McLuhans in terms of technological determinism. In a nugget, his main goal is to rethink technology, invention, design, and be able to involve users. It is necessary to beware of technology being used in unintended ways and to highlight those ways.

The Design of Everyday Things

Within the preface, Donald Norman demonstrates the strength of design in anything, in everyday things. He emphasizes that we should embrace good design and reject common and inferior design. Norman’s main focus in this book is to be able to construct things that are understandable and usable.

Poor or average design derives from an absence of awareness and attention by the maker in regards to the user. Technologists and inventors are often known not to learn from the mistake of the past, so errors are typically repeated again and again.

Good designs save lives. Bad designs can create accidents in which causes people to blame themselves for. “Human error” is typically the excuse, yet after the incident is scrutinized and examined it is apparent that poor design and/or equipment installation is at fault.

Technology is always advancing yet people change at a relatively slow rate. There should be no reason for a person to blame him/herself due to insufficient knowledge of how to go through a door, turn on a sink, or answer a phone, etc. The design should initially arise from good communication and the understanding of people. One should not blame themselves yet rather blame the designer or the technology.

Norman explains that one will learn three main principles from DOET:

1. It’s not your fault- It is not the person’s fault, the designer is the one to blame.
2. Design principles- Conceptual models are vital to good design; they demonstrate the relationship amongst the location and operation they maneuver to allow the user to know what does what. Feedback, constraints, and affordances are facets which are key to a good design.

3. The power of observation- Critiquing designs is crucial. One should be aware and attentive of device designs everywhere.

Chapter One: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

This book focuses on the psychology of people and device interactions.

A conceptual model allots visualization and implications for better understanding of a device.

Visibility is the most essential aspect of design. It allows mapping to link determined actions to operations. The visuals need to express accurate messages. The user must know how to flush the toilet easily by the way it is visually designed. With the use of natural designs, one can be able to flush the toilet without having the actual word “flush” on the flush button. Simply natural designs produce natural interpretations without consciousness.

Visual structure refers to:

Affordances- provide hints to how devices should be operated. For example, a bed affords comfort and, therefore, affords sleeping. Affordances allow the user to maneuver the device.

Constraints- limit possibilities of the user.

Mapping- refers to the set of operations that can be maneuvered; it is linkage amongst controls and actions. Natural mapping enables quick understanding.

A conceptual model and visualization of a device is necessary for effective design

Conceptual models are made up of mental models, models that others have of themselves and their surroundings through their being and experiences.

System image- the visible aspects of a device

Norman provides a great comparison between the modern phone and car. The main reasons why it is so much easier to use buttons within in a car in comparison to a phone is because of the visibility structure of controls within the car. The controls in a car are more visible and typically have one function rather than multiple; usually if one control enables numerous functions, maneuvering may become fairly difficult. The phone lacks proper visible structure, mapping, and feedback. Feedback indicates whether an action has been executed. If one turns on the car windshield-wipers, the windshield-wipers will provide apparent feedback by wiping the windshield. On the other hand, a phone does not always provide feedback when a phone is being transferred, one does not know whether the call had been transferred or properly dealt with. The dilemma in this era is that devices are gaining more and more features without efficient feedback.

Although technologies are constantly advancing and device facets are becoming more complex, the aspects of good design can overcome even the most complex controls with the usage of conceptual model and visibility strategies.

Professional Investigation

Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse

This program aids students to pursue writing in a wide array of fields. The graduate classes focus on writing in various contexts, the study of the writing language, etc.
I am currently taking a course in this discipline: NMS 509, Special Topics in New Media Studies: Documentary Screenwriting. I do recommend this great class if you have an interest in studying documentaries and how to create them. We are analyzing the various kinds of documentaries and are screenwriting our own.

Other courses that seem to be interesting are WRD 524 (Document Design), WRD 525 (Writing for the Web), and WRD 523 (Editing).


Art, Media, and Design

Graphic design, media art, and fine art make up the core for this department. It’s a shame that graduate classes are not offered, hopefully similar studio classes are offered in other departments.


Communication

This department explores the formation and elaboration of meaning. Some of the courses can be real beneficial to NMS students hence they deal with journalism, radio, TV, film, public relations and advertising. One of my BA’s was in Communication so a lot of the courses appeal to me. Amongst the many specific courses I find interesting, I will most likely consider taking: PRAD 555 (Public Relations), PRAD 553 (Advertising), and MCS 501 (Film and Media Theory).


Computing and Digital Media

Divided into two schools, School of Computing and the School of Cinema and Interactive Media, CDM provides a wide array of innovative courses. Such a department focuses on incorporating technology with storytelling. There is a wide range of Master Degree opportunities in CDM varying from Computer Game Development to Computational Finance.


Human Computer Interaction

With the combination of computer, graphic design, and social sciences, this program aides students in analyzing and creating technological interfaces. This discipline may be of some good interest to NMS students hence some of the courses available are Computer, Information and Network Security, Digital Cinema, Game Development, Computer Graphics and Motion, Interactive Media, Visual Effects, etc.

Social Media Revolution

Watching a video like this gives me the shivers every time. I saw this one about a month ago and it reminded me of the “Google Epic” video; both are very moving. The argument is strong. All media will cross-over onto the internet and it will happen very fast. Nobody knows what will happen after we reach that point. Personally, I still lean toward the side of social media being a fad. For instance, Facebook and Twitter are not sustainable unless they turn into paid services. I simply feel as if bandwidth cost will eat up any great internet idea, unless you can give it away like Google.

Towards a Mediological Method: A Framework for Critically Engaging Dimensions of a Medium

In this article, Melinda Turnley explores mediology and also proposes a framework for critically analyzing dimensions of a medium. It is mentioned that mediology is defined by the linkage and comparisons of culture, media, and the transmission of ideas. When exploring mediology, it is found that the convergence of new and old technology/media allows the expansion of new digital technology. The ability to combine media and technology lessens the gap between producer-consumer relationships as well.

As an aside, this article is very complex and sophisticated hence the style of and some of the language was beyond my comprehension at times. It was a challenge tackling it, so I am describing the main gist of what I did understand.

How do various types of media influence our world? What forms of media are more beneficial and to whom? How do various forms of media affect different groups of people (teachers, students, professionals, etc)? Turnley introduces a matrix for analyzing media in order to better explain/ answer these questions. The matrix consists of seven dimensional categories: technological, social, economic, archival, aesthetic, subjective, and epistemological.

Using Turnley’s matrix, I will analyze the medium Halo (Xbox game):

Technological- This refers to any facet that allows the medium to function. For instance, Halo could not function without a game controller.

Social- This is anything that enables socializing and communication. So Halo allows communication through a network even throughout the duration of the game via headsets. Also, another social aspect of Halo is that there are many forums online in which players can interact socially in regards to the game (bungie.net).

Economic- This focuses on the production and development facets based on a medium’s value. Halo has been producing 100’s of million dollars and is Xbox’s best-selling game, if not best-selling game period which is redefining gaming history. With an exceptional interactive fan base, such sales have lead to expansion of it through other mediums such as graphic novels and other video games.

Archival- This allows aspects of the medium to be archived or saved (disks, cassettes, memory cards, etc.) Halo uses “saved films,” an online storage system, which allows a player to save game data for viewing later.

Aesthetic- This would involve the style, design, and appearance of a medium. People react almost immediately to aesthetics/ visuals. The innovative and thematic graphic design of Halo attracts a large fan base. Halo’s graphics include high dynamic range, motion blurring, global lighting, and depth of field effects. Even a miniscule stylistic aspect such as that of using a-typical names for spaceships and characters lures players. The game and website for it our thoroughly thought out and have exceptional graphic visuals which appeal to a broad audience in general.

Subjective- This refers to the subjective ideology of the medium. What expectations does this medium have? What is its target audience? Halo expects players to have an Xbox 360, otherwise one cannot play the game. Due to the fact that the target audience consists of younger adults whom of which the majority is male, also triggers influences and limitations.

Epistemological- “Epistme” means knowledge/ study of knowledge, so basically this dimension deals with social affluence/ social reactions of a medium. For example, although Halo has great appeal, controversies do arise. Some who are very cautious of the youth that make-up our society, are worried that educational games have no chance at competing with Halo’s sky-rocket ratings.

Remediation

Here, Jay Butler and Richard Grusin depict their view of media. They explore remediation, immediacy, and hypermediacy. As underlined in this article, remediation is the use of one medium in another. Let’s take for example a Harry Potter book. The medium can also be digested through a book-on-audio or a movie. The content is the same yet advantages of using the newer form of the medium are emphasized. The audio book enables one to multi-task while the movie allows one to use most of his/her senses to be more immersed.

Transparent immediacy refers to being immersed in the medium in order to feel presence in a world other than the one of which exists for the individual. Butler and Grusin often refer to “the wire”, a device which facilitates virtual reality, as an example. Although the wire is a bulky device which is placed on one’s head, one can see, hear, and as if even feel everything within that experience. Nintendo Wii is another example of transparent immediacy. The ability to move the Mii, your player, in the game by motions of one’s own body provides a great sense of immersion.

Hypermediacy excerpts “being there +.” It aids in taking you there yet on multiple levels and through various channels. It can more easily be viewed as a mash-up of mediums in one. For example, the internet allows one to have many windows open containing diverse mediums (podcasts, youtube videos, blogs, etc). Another example of hypermediacy could just as well be Google Wave through the collaboration of messages, wikis, emails, social-networking facets, etc. Butler and Grusin also explore the double logic of remediation. In a nugget, this concept is as if a paradox which is the elimination of media by multiplying it. A sample of this would be being at a sports bar for March Madness. By watching several varying versions of the game at once, the person who is at the bar feels great presence and immersion, in fact, even more so than the person at the actual game who is watching only one game.

Bolter, Jay, and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. London: The MIT Press, 1999.

Multimodal Discourse

In this article, Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwan focus on multimodality taking over monomodality in Western culture. Framing, which is a multimodal principle, is discussed as a way of showing a disconnection or connection of semiotic modes/ parts in a composition. The distinct difference made between monomodal and multimodal is that multimodal provides an opportunity for there to exist many meanings in every sign, at every level and mode. Meaning is produced in four various stratas: discourse, design, production, and distribution.

Discourse depicts a set of knowledge which is influenced by its social contexts. For example, a news story can be digested differently when reading the newspaper or watching the news alone compared to learning the story at a dinner table with a group of people.

Design resides in the middle of content and expression. As said, “it is the conceptual side of expression, and the expression side of conception.” Semiotic resources and modes make up design.

Production is said to be the the organization of expression yet without semiotic modes. On the other hand, semiotic media is involved with the usage of technical skills (skills of the hands and eyes).

Distribution encompasses preservation and basic distribution means yet also without incorporating semiotic modes.

Although typically used together in an end result, discourse, design, production, and distribution remain distinct strata. They do not have to form a unity.

The term provenance explains from what a sign derived from while experiential meaning potential is a concept in which describes from what was it that we did that produced such a sign.

Children’s bedrooms are later discussed to demonstrate the above stratas. The multimodality of the rooms allows the human eye to strip down layers of it and produce countless varieties of meanings.

Professional Job Investigation

Although, I have not yet pinpointed what distinct career I’d like to pursue after graduating, I had browsed around and found some job postings which caught my attention.

Web Innovations Director

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=ILKTVGV&ff=21&APath=2.21.21.0.0&job_did=JB989W6TLT9Q951Y00V

Advertising and Digital Sales Director

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=ILKTVGV&ff=21&APath=2.21.21.0.0&job_did=J8F2CM6LV1XYVJH6LGH

Production Director

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=ILKTVGV&ff=21&APath=2.21.21.0.0&job_did=J3H2RL5XS281FGLHVPG

These positions require a well-rounded person who is very knowledgeable within a wide array of social media activities. Just as discussed in the article, media and online media is constantly evolving so I believe I need to be up to par with technology and media advancements. I need to be able to easily adjust and adapt to new media/ social media trends. Participating in online communities, social-networking sites, and blogging sites is key to remaining in the loop. As mentioned, I will register and be involved in social media websites such as Mediabistro and/or Mashable and read recommended books for my field. While I am currently working in the new media field and also interning, I’ll have to discover fairly soon what career I’d like to pursue in specific hence job experience is vital. A good few of the jobs I had come across require 5-8 years of experience as well as web design skills. I am hoping to enhance my web design knowledge by taking classes next year.

I do have a few ideas still up in the air just in case I decide not to find a job upon graduation time. Whether I decide to further my education in the new media studies field in order to be able to teach at a higher level or open my own business, the above points mentioned are extremely beneficial, if not necessary, to stay on track.

Check This Out

Social Media Revolution Video