Website Designs

All of these websites have very different interface designs. They are not only different from each other, but also from what is expected and typical on the internet. Amazon is an example of a typical online website experience, but if it were combined with some of the interfaces used on the other sites I explored, it would be a very different shopping experience. It is hard to say if it would be better or worse because that is based on the used or the shopper, in this case. Even flickr is relatively simple to navigate and standard. Both Amazon and flickr utilize the search tool, but flickr also had some other, more experimental options.

I found the interface design on flickr, which was centered on the color of the images, to be a little unusual, and I could not understand how that could be practical and a superior means of searching for an image. This style of interface would not really be able to translate well into a website such as Amazon, where it is product based and not color based. I found the flickr map interface to be more useful in comparison to the color-based interface. This would allow the user to find whatever he is looking for based on its country, which is a valid interface design. In fact, this could even be used on another website, such as a news website, where the user could look up the latest news based on the country. I also enjoyed the cover art interface design, but I think it would only make a website more complicated and confusing.

I found the three other websites to be very interesting, but not necessarily useful interface designs. I enjoyed clicking through all of the screens on transbuddha.com. I must admit that I went through the whole sequence because I could not stop clicking, but once it started over again, I stopped. I did not particularly enjoy the one where even when you didn't click anything, the gun automatically shot the dog. I don't understand how that could be useful. On the last website that was looked at, the use was not allowed to click the mouse. I understand how this interface could be easily translated to other types of websites, but it was hard for me to adjust because the act of clicking the mouse was a type of control. After exploring that website for a little bit, I was able to get used to not clicking my mouse. In the end, all of the different interface designs were very fun to explore, but not all of them had practical applications.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

The Museum of Jurassic Technology was nothing like I expected. In fact, the content was not even close to what I had been anticipating seeing in this museum. The collection of this museum did not display what I had in my mind as technology, although it was technology. I had imagined that the museum would have possibly shown a timeline of inventions in technology that have lead to where technology stands today, but this was not really the case.

The museum was not a continuously flowing exhibit. It was broken up into many distinct categories. However, the museum was not just divided by designated categories, it was separated literally by the architecture of the building and the exhibits. Therefore, walls and categorical names created separate sections within the museum that did not obviously relate to the other exhibitions within the museum's collection.

I was definitely not expecting to see an entire section of the museum completely dedicated to the game of cat's cradle. In fact, it was hard for me to understand how this exhibit related to the others in the museum. I could understand how some of the exhibits in the museum related to each other and technology, but I could not say the same for this section of the collection. The cat's cradle exhibition stood out to me because, in my mind, it didn't really fit with the rest of everything else in the museum. Perhaps that is why it was placed on the second floor. I really don't know. Cat's cradle is just a little game that a lot of children play.

It is difficult for me to understand the thinking behind the Museum of Jurassic Technology. I do not fully understand how everything in the museum relates to each other, and in some instances, why some of the objects in the exhibits were significant enough to be in a museum. While I enjoyed exploring the museum, most of the time I was confused by its contents.

Small World

I had a lot of fun exploring Florian Thalhofer's Small World interactive project. It was not at all as I expected. I assumed I would be guided in a particular order through the fifty-four little stories on what it is like to grow-up in a small town, but I was not. Instead, I had a sense of control to a certain degree. Most of the time there were many different areas to click and continue my exploration in the project, but there were a few occasions when there was only one place to click. Only then was I reminded that my journey through this project could be controlled through the creator.

While I enjoyed my exploration, there were moments when I was overwhelmed by the scale of the project. At times I felt lost. With each click, I was going deeper in the project, but I also wasn't sure if I would eventually see and hear all of the stories. There were also times when I wasn't sure where I was geographically in relation to the story the narrator was telling and how all of the stories related to each other - why certain pictures lead to others. Despite these little aspects, I thoroughly enjoyed Small World.

Eventually, I realized that there was one ending to the project. After each story played, boxes appeared that lead to another little story, which was somehow connected to the previous story that was told. This could be considered the space. However, there were times where I couldn't always see the connection between clips. This made it a little confusing sometimes, but it was still intriguing. The narrative structure was not continuous, as the user had the ability to make his own selections and the story had an ending. This provided for a very interesting interactive media experience. I found Small World to be a fascinating project.

Videodrome

I honestly don't really know what to think of David Cronenberg's Videodrome. I understand that the movie is focused on the overstimulation of primarily violence and sex through television and electronic media. This was in fact made quite clear throughout the entire film in extremely graphic ways, which I found too difficult to watch at times. Not only were these scenes practically unbearable to view, I also never imagined that I would have to watch something like this. I never wanted to put these types of images in my mind. Hopefully, I never have to see this or any other film like this one again. I'm sure there are many other movies that convey the same types of messages in a less graphic manner.

In this film, electronic media seems to dominate the culture, controlling the minds of its many viewers and influencing their thoughts and actions. This follows Marshall McLuhan's theory that people can be controlled through media. With printed text, for example, people were able to read the text and draw their own individual conclusions and interpretations from the message. This process is different in electronic media. Now, the information is instantaneous and reaches groups of people, not just the individual. Also, the media can be altered to send one uniform message to the masses, taking away the individual's personal interpretation.

Videodrome definitely does a thorough job of highlighting the problems that can occur from overstimulation through media. While I felt that this movie was completely over the top and unnecessarily graphic, I understand that it was trying to make a point. However, I believe this point could have been made just as easily in a less obscenely visual manner, which therefore could have reached more people. I for one would not have willingly picked this movie to watch, and with its R rating, I know there are many people who would avoid seeing this film. In today's culture, overstimulation is taking place with electronic media, as in violent video games, but it has not yet reached the level that is shown in Videodrome. I must say that I was completely disgusted with this film.

Second Life

This week I went on an adventure in the postmodern flaneur known as Second Life. After creating my Second Life account and downloading the program onto my computer, I went through some of the tutorials with my avatar, which I named Ktown Braveheart. The visual appearance of the game, such as the look of the characters and the environment, instantly reminded me of the Sims, which I had played for a little bit a few years ago. This was interesting to me, because I had always thought of the Sims as a game, not a recreation of our world. Second Life was supposed to be more like a virtual world than a game. However, Second Life looked the same to me as a game that I was very familiar with, which made it harder for me to accept it as a real alternative world.

Once I had gone through the brief tutorial, I was taken to my home, which was called Korea 1 on the map. In reality, this was not my home because I had not purchased any land. The tutorial had explained how to control my character, but it had not clearly addressed the layout of this virtual world. From that point on, I found Second Life to be rather complicated and confusing. I had absolutely no money, and the only way I knew to get money was to actually pay for the virtual currency with my credit card, and I did not want to do that at this early stage in my experience. I wandered around the town for a little bit, but I didn't find anything except empty buildings and other people who were just walking around. I talked to a few of those people, but that just seemed strange to me because I didn't feel well-versed enough in the game to have an interesting conversation with them. Although it did not seem like another real world, I was impressed with the somewhat realistic appearance of the scenery and the buildings. However, even the parts that did seem like the real world in Second Life were overshadowed by the fact that the avatars could fly. Walking through this virtual world was very different to me from walking around in the real world, and I missed things that I would usually take for granted such as being able to actually touch and smell things. Perhaps my feelings would be changed a little if I actually understood completely how to navigate the game, but I couldn't find that information during this first visit to the site.

In an episode of The Office called Local Ad, which aired in Season 4, the character Dwight is completely obsessed with Second Life because he says his life was so amazing that he wanted to have two of them. This was my first impression of Second Life, and after exploring it for a little while, it seemed like it would be rather difficult to replicate one's real life in this game; but maybe if I understood how to maneuver through the virtual world more effectively, it would not seem so complex.

DNA Sequencing: Unlocking the Code

Biotechnology is an important part of living in the twenty-first century. In relation to the medical field, it has allowed for more levels of truth and reality to be exposed through such advances as x-rays, MRIs, and even sonograms. In fact, sonograms completely revolutionized the process of pregnancy, at least in America. Now through the sonogram people have their first look at their child and their baby's first little picture.  Biotechnology seems to have an impact everywhere.

There were seven different projects on the Critical Art Ensemble website. The website for the project called Society for Reproductive Anachronisms starts with the Manifesto section by showing a picture of a naked female and a naked male, who is holding a naked baby, with the words written across the image "No Genetic Alternations Necessary." These are powerful words. Biotechnology is all about advancing science to learn and see more. However, the Society for Reproductive Anachronisms is against the use of technology in any manner when it comes to the aspect of sexual reproduction. Much research has been done on the manipulation of DNA with animals, but it seems that the point of view of this project is that it should not be done, or at least taken seriously. Without the assistance of biotechnology, there are enough anomalies in this field of human reproduction which science can't explain. This is discussed in the Procession of the Damned section on the project's website. In the Fertility Aids section, other non-biotechnological methods are discussed. It seems that only natural methods should be utilized, from special herbs and unique recipes to help with reproductive disorders, to fertility rituals that have been practiced for centuries. 

This particular project on the Critical Art Ensemble website appears to have negative emotions towards biotechnology, or at least its involvement with these issues. This project feels that the input of science in this matter is very bad. In class, we discussed how the scientific visual culture has been responsible for changes in our environment. Biotechnology would like to experiment with modifying DNA to create people who look a specific way and to hopefully be able to predict what people would look like before they are even born. However, the Society for Reproductive Anachronisms is against this practice and its interested in bringing this issue to the attention of the masses.

"An Inconvenient Truth"

I found Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, to be a very interesting straightforward presentation of global warming in relation to the world today. In last week's short film that I watched by Eric Faden, Tracking Theory, the message was difficult to interpret at first. I was actually forced to watch the movie a couple of times to fully comprehend the message he was trying to convey to the viewer. This was not the case with An Inconvenient Truth. After watching it once, I felt that I had a nice grasp on the topic of global warming and understanding of its many implications.

I had never seen An Inconvenient Truth before, so I had no idea what to expect, other than Al Gore talking about the issue of global warming, which I already knew was very important to him. As the documentary began, I was relieved to discover that the whole movie was not just Gore standing at a podium showing slides of images and facts relating to global warming. To me, that would have been extremely boring. Instead, the documentary was able to draw in the audience by showing Gore outside of the public speaking environment. It did show Gore delivering his infamous global warming slideshow presentation to large groups of people around the world, but that was not the whole movie. There were many scenes with Gore away from the crowds of people discussing this issue in a manner that created a more intimate environment, where the audience could feel like he was talking directly to them. This style of presentation was not present in Eric Faden's Tracking Theory. There was not that same sense of intimacy with the narrator or insight into the narrator's commitment to the message in this movie as there was in An Inconvenient Truth. In Tracking Theory, it seemed as if the film was trying to trick the viewer the entire time, whereas in An Inconvenient Truth, the movie revolved around uncovering and discussing the hard facts of global warming. Tracking Theory was done very artistically, while An Inconvenient Truth was one hundred percent committed to explaining the facts of global warming to the world in a way that would inspire people to change. Although the styles used in the making of these two documentaries were clearly different, they were both successful in the presentation of their arguments. Both of these films caused their viewers to continue thinking after the film stopped rolling.