From "Interactive" to Subjunctive
Jentery Sayers | Unlearning the Internet | Week 5
DHum 150 | UVic English | 4 February 2019
Slides Online: jentery.github.io/150/slides/week5m
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The Appeal to Interactivity
"Interactive media is a method of communication in which the output from the media comes from the input of the users. Interactive media works with the user's participation. The media still has the same purpose but the user's input adds interaction and brings interesting features to the system for
better enjoyment."
See Wikipedia entry on "interactive media."
Problems with "Interactive"
"Programmed," "automated," or "responsive" is more accurate.
Programmed interactions are scripted and structured.
Digital computing struggles somewhat with ambiguity
(while human interaction is rife with ambiguity).
"Interaction" (psychological, social, physical) is broad
and difficult to study, regardless of medium.
The form of mediation (e.g., talking, typing, gesturing)
is important and also more specific than "interactive."
Routinized online tasks (e.g., clicking, typing) may feel more like
following a designer's plan or instructions than interacting.
See Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media (2001).
The Subjunctive
Instead of, "How to make it interactive?"
We might ask, "What if?"
This question engages what has not happened.
It's a question of engagement (not just consumption).
It's also common in fantasy and science fiction,
which influence design and development practices.
Julian Bleecker
"Design Fiction"
(stop at minute 8)
Sci Fi Is Not Prophecy, Satire, or Just Allegory
Not prophecy b/c not reportage (sci fi doesn't describe actual events)
Not just allegory b/c symbolic political meanings and hidden moral tales
appear in many forms of fiction
Not satire b/c the effect of sci fi is not explicit criticism (the effect is making the bizzare familiar and the familiar bizarre via perspective or scenario)
See Joanna Russ, "Speculations: The Subjunctivity of Science Fiction" (1973)
Science Fiction
Is neither altogether strange nor altogether familiar
Connects w/ actuality without reflecting it
Is neither impossible nor possible
It also has a history in zines . . .
See Joanna Russ, "Speculations: The Subjunctivity of Science Fiction" (1973)
Zines
"About 80 years ago the word 'zine' came into existence as an abbreviated word from its parent term, 'fanzine,' to describe fan-based science-fiction pulps. The genre, however, took off into its current form in the 1960s with radical activist movements and the punk rock music fanzines of the 1970s. The photocopy machine replaced expensive and labor intensive mimeograph machines and propelled 'printing' into a realm of accessible duplication. Not a 'magazine' or a 'fanzine,' contemporary zines have become historic and personal narratives documenting people's stories and histories from all over the world. They are used in education in many ways including: creative writing, instruction, as primary resources, community projects, and cultural awareness. Digital technology has not killed print or zine culture, but has created online and open source spaces for zine communities to network and exchange information."
See Kim Schwenk, SDSU
Julia Evans's Wizard Zines
Questions
What's the primary topic?
How does Evans address the audience?
How does Evans engage technology as culture?
How does Evans use humour?
How does Evans compose and distribute the zine?
How does Evans make the bizarre familiar and the familiar bizarre?
How does Evans engage what has not happened?
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