Interface Culture : How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate

Rating:
Summary: Opening Our Imaginations to "DataSpace"
Review: In writing Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate, Steven Johnson seems to want us to open our imaginations wider to the potential of "dataspace." In some ways he is asking us to view the Internet and the World Wide Web anew.

Perhaps he worries that habits have already begun to form around the new media and that commonly evinced assumptions and metaphors of "cyberspace" have so strongly asserted themselves that we are in danger of forgetting that, for instance, "The Desktop" is only a metaphor, and a rather prosaic and limited one at that.

Johnson offers an alternative view of dataspace as being like a Victorian novel, with labyrinthine passageways, surprises around every corner, and as in the novels of Dickens the possibility of bumping into others, meeting online and being surprised by new or even long lost relationships.

Johnson entreats us to consider that while "the interface came into the world under the cloak of efficiency...it is now emerging - chrysalis-style - as a genuine art form" Unreflective habit and dusty assumptions are oppositional to the consideration of an art form. Further, if it is true that "the medium is the message" then it may be important to more closely consider the elements of interface that we may already be taking for granted. And, in some cases, such considerations raise issues not merely of artistic, but also of ethical, import.

What, for instance, are the implications for intellectual property of "framing" others' ideas in Windows within our own web pages? And what does it mean when, as part of a business arrangement, an online newspapers makes use of the features available in Internet Explorer while IE and Netscape are locked in a federal court battle that is itself national news - reported by that same online newspaper?

Johnson helps to challenge what we think we know about such fundamental elements of an interface as Text and Links and brings us up-to-date on "Smart Agents." He also goes back in cyber-time, to describe Vannevar Bush's theoretical Memex, to remind us that early visions of what "information space" could be about, may surpass our own current formulations, and what we're actually making of it.

Ultimately Johnson's attempts to help us to see with creativity and verve succeed and perhaps we and the "dataspace" we inhabit will be the better for it.

Rating:
Summary: Opening Our Imaginations to "DataSpace"
Review: In writing Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate, Steven Johnson seems to want us to open our imaginations wider to the potential of "dataspace." In some ways he is asking us to view the Internet and the World Wide Web anew.

Perhaps he worries that habits have already begun to form around the new media and that commonly evinced assumptions and metaphors of "cyberspace" have so strongly asserted themselves that we are in danger of forgetting that, for instance, "The Desktop" is only a metaphor, and a rather prosaic and limited one at that.

Johnson offers an alternative view of dataspace as being like a Victorian novel, with labyrinthine passageways, surprises around every corner, and as in the novels of Dickens the possibility of bumping into others, meeting online and being surprised by new or even long lost relationships.

Johnson entreats us to consider that while "the interface came into the world under the cloak of efficiency...it is now emerging - chrysalis-style - as a genuine art form" Unreflective habit and dusty assumptions are oppositional to the consideration of an art form. Further, if it is true that "the medium is the message" then it may be important to more closely consider the elements of interface that we may already be taking for granted. And, in some cases, such considerations raise issues not merely of artistic, but also of ethical, import.

What, for instance, are the implications for intellectual property of "framing" others' ideas in Windows within our own web pages? And what does it mean when, as part of a business arrangement, an online newspapers makes use of the features available in Internet Explorer while IE and Netscape are locked in a federal court battle that is itself national news - reported by that same online newspaper?

Johnson helps to challenge what we think we know about such fundamental elements of an interface as Text and Links and brings us up-to-date on "Smart Agents." He also goes back in cyber-time, to describe Vannevar Bush's theoretical Memex, to remind us that early visions of what "information space" could be about, may surpass our own current formulations, and what we're actually making of it.

Ultimately Johnson's attempts to help us to see with creativity and verve succeed and perhaps we and the "dataspace" we inhabit will be the better for it.

Rating:
Summary: The Fusion of Technology and Culture
Review: Interface Culture is one of those books that comes along ever so often that helps you make sense of a seemingly disparate but conjunctive collection of emerging influences in life. The emerging influences dealt with in this book involve computer technology, cultural changes and human/machine interaction, with the interaction taking place through the computer interface. Johnson says that the book is "...an extended attempt to think about the object-world of today as though it belonged to the world of culture....For the truth is, they have been united all along"(p.1).

He then takes you on a journey through the history of interface discovery and development that opens your eyes to the connections between interface design and implementation and their cultural and historical underpinnings, as well as to their potential impact on the culture of the future. He says that because of Doug Engelbart's interface breakthrough in 1968(first public demo of a Graphical User Interface), "...a machine was imagined not as an attachment to our bodies, but as an environment, a space to be explored"(p.24). And, just like the way the advent of the automobile changed the way cities developed, "the (computer) interface has already changed the way we use our computers....(and) it is also bound to change other realms of modern experience in more unlikely, unpredictable ways"(p.25).

According to Johnson, this book was written about "...the fusion of art and technology that we call interface design"(p. 6). However, it goes well beyond such mild-mannered sounding concerns and invites the reader to consider the influence of technological breakthroughs on society and culture from the time of cave painters, through the Renaissance, past Marx and Mcluhan to the dawning of the 21st century. With the appearance of Apple's Macintosh computer, he says that "...you could see for the first time that the interface had become a medium....(and) if the personal computer [was] a truly new medium then the very use of it would actually change the thought patterns of an entire generation"(p. 50).

Near the end of the book, Johnson visits the controversy growing around the development and use of "agents" in computing. He sees the idea of computer "...windows governed by semantics and not by space"(p. 169) as a possible "genuine paradigm shift" in the employment of computers. This paradigm shift, in the form of "digital personalities," "agents," or "agent-driven interfaces," however, is problematic. Referencing Mcluhan from Understanding Media, Johnson says that "...new technological forms...transform not only the balance of power between our senses, but also our experience of other media"(p. 178). And, that "because agents are the most independent-the most autonomous-tools in the interface repertoire, their influence may turn out to be the most far-reaching, and the most subtle" and because of that, "...the design of our intelligent agents shouldn't be left up to the CEOs and the technocrats"(p. 179). One of Johnson's real concerns with intelligent agents is that, "As in the world of espionage, ...it's not always clear who they're working for"(p. 188). That especially in the Web environment, the development of "counteragents" designed by ad organizations to "lure" personal agents, could result in "...a custom-fit delivery of information and services that's always one step ahead of you," in other words personalized Junk Mail!

I found this book fascinating reading in terms of the content, the hip-but-literary cultured style of the prose and the questions raised by the consideration of how some of our notions about technology and culture came about and the speculation about where we may be headed. The book should be required reading for those in, headed toward or curious about interface design. I would also strongly recommend it to those of us who wonder why we get along better with some computing facilities versus others, and/or are curious or concerned about where the digital revolution might be taking us and our progeny.

Rating:
Summary: user-friendly book for the computer amateur
Review: Johnson clarifies to the common reader (ie non-computer tech) the complicated world of computer technology. His style is engaging, his examples up-to-the-minute and familiar to all familiar with American pop-culture. In this way, "Interface Culture" is a refreshing look at the world of cyberspace, as well as the always entertaining Microsoft-Apple war that is so vaguely understood by myself and others like me. His understanding of cyberspace and the way it has affected pop-culture is also apparent in his on-line magazine "Feed," which is useful as a first-time foray into the world of internet reporting and entertainment. Johnson's exploration of the disorientation of our nation's consumerism is just as enlightening. Likening it to the internet, where, as he writes, we are forced to "keep walking," Johnson enlightens his readers to the effects of architecture, both real and virtual, on our consciousness. It affects our choices, and a mere awareness of this makes us as consumers more aware of our choices altogether. The idea of a "virtual environment," while a revolutionary idea in the 1980's, became a part of life accepted by the youth of today. Computers have changed the way we think, and Johnson deconstructs this thought process in a way we can all understand. His book, much like his on-line magazine "Feed," is user-friendly, and it offers insights that affect the lives of everyone who comes in contact with computers today.

Rating:
Summary: Great read! Easy to understand, and enlightening!
Review: Johnson does a great job at making some complex thoughts on the history and impact of our Mac/Windows interface and its implications on our culture. I found this book enlightening, and would definitely recommend this book to anyone involved with computing, as an educator or as a programmer. Aaron E. Silvers ([e-mail]), Middleton, Wisconsin

Rating:
Summary: Yeah! The culture is understandable now
Review: Johnson has a very unusual, yet helpful way of explaining how we have come to our current level of human computer interaction. This book uses each of it's chapters to weave a perspective based in historical information as well as analogies and technical expertise. Johnson's skillful combination of the three elements paints a picture of understanding that turns on light bulbs for the reader.

Johnson's discussion of links as they relate to the internet and Dicken's favorite phrase "Links of association" allows the reader to understand why we are thrilled with the simplistic idea of linking. Then just as the reader is shaking their head yes, he expands the reader's mind to where the next phase of "linking" could/should go.

Another interesting discussion surrounds the need for more "pull" technology as Johnson feels this is what "...compelling interface design is about" (p.191)

While the book would be on the recommend list. It is important to note that as with many books about design, it sounds good in theory and it's ideas are ones to be sought after on a daily basis. Yet there is little "how to" in this book. In the end many may feel the need for some reality checks with regards to real feasability.

Rating:
Summary: High hype-to-substance ratio: still it was interesting
Review: Johnson makes lots of claims that interface design will be the art form of the future, but doesn't really give us a lot of information on how to build a better mousetrap. The book is a good overview of current trends in interface design and occasionally has some thoughtful criticism, but is way short in the recommendations end. He repeats a lot of stuff covered by McLuhan and Laurel

Rating:
Summary: meandering flow overshadows some good content
Review: Johnson makes some interesting points, and prods the reader to think in some new directions, but he never seems to get to the point. It reads more like a friend telling you some interesting tidbits or factoids than a commentary or dialog on a particular topic or direction.

Rating:
Summary: theoretically brilliant: the practice falls short
Review: Johnson's book, Interface Culture, is about the growing culture of the interface, the way we interact with the world around us. It is based on the nearly invisible premise that we interface with much of the world, and have been for most of our time on this planet. I found this immediately intriguing because some f the hardest things to observe are the interfaces that we sue to connect and interact with the world. Johnson frames his discussion of interface with the elements of computer interface; the desktop, windows, links, text, and agents, all common to those people coming from a computer literate society.

Where Johnson really shines (and I admit a personal bias for the topic) is in his discussion about hypertext and the poor job that silicon valley has done in really pushing it to the limits of it possibility. He presents a picture of an industry that continues to try to bring television to the web (real video, real audio, flash) all attempts to bring movement and animation to a naturally solid state-dynamic environment. The real power of the web is in the link, in the ability of authors and users to "create their own story" - to navigate through the content as they wish, not necessarily how the author intended. Johnson uses Dicken's stories as examples of thinking that incorporates the sense of disparate ideas - all connected into one story - the kind of thinking that Johnson thinks needs to be used to harness the power of the link.

Johnson also takes time to explore the differences between "surfing the web" and "channel surfing", arguing that the two are fundamentally different. He argues that the passive, almost lazy activity of channel surfing actually works against our ability to conceive of the web differently. People who have this mentality will not be able to clearly see other possibilities for the web.

Johnson spends quite some time bitterly complaining about the lack of real innovation in hypertext environments, and in the end suggests that his own online magazine "FEED" is at the forefront of hypertext theory, pushing the limits of use. I was less impressed that I though I would be. Johnson is so very eloquent and keenly aware of the need to use hypertext as storytelling environment, to really push out lazy use of it, and to exploit the full potential of this tool. I feel that Johnson fails to acheive the goal that he so clearly lays out in his book. While FEED does use hypertext in new ways, it didn't strike me as particularly clean. By this I mean that the *interface* was clogged with too many links, the user while given many options was not given any clear or clean sense of direction. Burrowing into the site, the linking grew in scope and complexity, but instead of making my interaction more pleasant, I found I was more confused, and really had to try to find order. Perhaps this is just a natural reflexive response to the new use of a familiar thing, but I didn't to stay at FEED. I can see what FEED is trying to do, and I agree with the goal - to provide a dynamic interactive hypertext environment... but the interface was too hard to use. From a design perspective it is always easier to add a bunch of bells and whistles, the hard part is to take away everything that distracts from the message, that interferes with the usability. It seems like the producers of feed became excited about the possibilities of hyperlinking and no one ever stopped to ask when was a good time to stop. While all links are relevant to the content, the sheer volume of linking distracts the user - taking away from their ability to smoothly interact with the environment.

Rating:
Summary: The New Art
Review: Johnson's main argument is that interface engineers are the next century's new artists. His argument rests on his assertion that the separation of engineers and artists is a relatively recent phenomenon and that software engineers and interface designers are part of an historical paradigm. This, strangely enough, from someone writes "...the unified field of traditional post-Enlightenment thinking fractured out into a hundred different points of view, each of them equally valid"(p. 83).

His training in semiotics is evident but while using many of the structuralist and post-structuralist constructs (and deconstructions), his prose is never life-drainingly academic. And he _is_ as comfortable and familiar with Dickens as he is with Delueze.

While I disagree with some of the finer points raised, I agree with most of his argument. The mediated interactive form of the present-day TV set with an attached typewriter needs a much-needed overhaul. The desktop (or the Palm's pen-and-pad) metaphor has been useful in getting us to this stage of the game but we need new ones. I believe, with Johnson, that we will get them eventually.

He is also editor-in-chief at Feed.com and one gets to see how some of his arguments "flesh out" in practice. Theoria is one thing, praxis another. While most digerati are gleefully proclaiming the death (or at least the convalescence) of the codex, Johnson's site seems based on the dead-wood magazine. There is an interesting part of his book where he describes the philosophy behind Feed (keywords:community-minded /interactive /hypertext). Yet his ventures into hypertext seemed, to these eyes, "less like an exercise in literary democracy and more like an isolation booth" (p. 127). He does make some great points in his discussion of a favorite site of mine, Suck. The ideas of hypertext seem more fully realized at their site but I digress...

Still, a very well-written book. And I have a soft spot for the (slight) nod towards "digital mysticism" that ends his book. Highly recommended.