Being human-centred

Andrew Nally

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#Optimisation | #Interface | #Interaction | #Data_curation | #Codex

The designer, Johanna Drucker takes us into the world of user interface [UI]. Drucker notes that engineering has dominated the human-computer interaction [HCI] and argues that a humanistic approach is needed to interpret the design world. She proposes that there are advantages to evaluating UI through the 'codex' of a book (Drucker, 2014 p.139).

The book should be understood as a spatially distributed set of graphical codes that provide instructions for reading, navigation, access, and use - Drucker

An interface is often thought of as a singular device or application, though an interface is not limited to one object. In its simplest form, it is the exchange of communication between two things, the body can be seen as an interface that interacts daily with a plethora of devices. Apple's TouchID is a prime example of the human body being used as an interface, this feature allows you to place your thumb on a biometric reader which is used for multiple functions including unlocking your phone (Fig 1).

fig 1 Apple Touch ID

In the late 1960s, computers relied on the interface of a command-line interface [CLI] The engineer, Ivan Sutherland, recognised that no matter how powerful and effective computers become, they would not be utilised unless a Human-Centred Design [HCD] was created. Sutherland approached this problem by combining 'imaginative innovation' with 'values of efficiency'. Subsequently, Human-Centred Interaction [HCI] was designed by engineers for engineers. The design became task-oriented and focused on feedback loops that minimized frustration and maximized satisfaction with mouse clicks and joysticks and rewarding bells and whistles (Drucker. 2014). Visual conventions established the language of interface iconography, first as a vocabulary of recognizable pictures of objects, then as cues for their behaviour and use. This is comparable to how iconic signs are defined in semiotics as signs where the signifier represents the signified by apparently having a likeness to it.

The role of the body as an interface in ways that virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier picked up on in his designs meant to trick the entire sensorium into an illusion - Drucker

Professional interface designers categorise tasks and behaviours into carefully defined segments and decision trees. These analyze 'user needs' and organise them into 'functional requirements'. These are then prototyped and furthered through 'user feedback'. Designs are chosen through these interactive cycles of 'task specification' and 'deliverables'. Many of the terms used to interpret the design of interfaces come from the theory of web design, which refers to the design of screen-based web apps. A central aspect is the user experience and the functions and processes that allow the interactions between the user and the device.

fig 2 Decision Tree

Drucker defines Interface as what and how we read combined through engagement, that provokes the identification of information. Key questions, to both help, analyse and question its content: Who is the subject of an interface? How are we produced as subjects of the discourses on the screen? And in our embodied and culturally situated relations to screens and displays? Drucker chooses the word 'engagement' rather than interaction when describing interfaces. She does this to indicate the social interaction between the user and the device. Interaction with an interface is something like turning on a light - a singular interaction between the user and the light switch. Whereas there is a level of engagement when unlocking your smartphone to use its features, to a degree this produces a relationship between the user and the phone. The body as interface is emphasised just as the virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier sought to trick the entire sensorium into an illusion (Drucker, 2014 p.140).

Interface work is happening on what we would call a plane of discourse, or the level of the telling, rather than the told - Drucker.

When faced with learning a new interface, a level of literacy is needed. Much like when learning the alphabet, each letter has a distinct meaning and sound, this can also be seen across all screen-based interfaces i.e, the power off icon. When you first picked up your smartphone, its interface felt clunky and foreign, as you repeatedly put down and pick up your phone, you rehearse a choreography of swiping and pinching and in time these actions become second nature.

Fig 3 Skeuomorphism in iOS Calculator App Design

Paradoxically, the digital technology now used does not equate to new ways of working but rather reinforces pre-existing workings, an example can be seen through Apple's IOS calculator, its design is based on older models of the physical object. This is called skeuomorphism. Skeuomorphism is when UI elements are made to look like the real-life objects and are intended to help users understand how to use a new interface by allowing them to apply previous knowledge about the object.

UI is a core experience to any given function driven by a computer, though its involvement in the task at hand is secondary to the main experience. A good UI is one that requires no training or previous knowledge for it to be used, we only notice UI when it is no longer functioning, when an error or glitch occurs, or if it has been poorly crafted (Fig 3). Sarah Kember, who focuses her research on digital media, writes that glass has become ubiquitous and what was once an instrument has now become an extension of our body (Kember, 2018, p.104). Kember highlights that our emotional experiences often rely on our screens, through our interactions with one another and the various visual media which we consume such as messaging and social media.

Glass demonstrates the tension between mediation and mediation, transparency and ambiguity, more persuasively than any other medium - Kember.

Talking about user interface and the screen is paradoxical. Both are a core experience to any given function driven by a computer, though its involvement in the task at hand is secondary to the main experience. They are used to drive and to perceive whatever it is representing if it is to be noticed then it has failed its purpose. A good UI is one that requires no training or previous knowledge needed for it to be used, we only notice these characteristics when they are no longer functioning or if it is poorly crafted, to begin with. It must be second nature to use.

Citation

Nally, A. (2020) 'Being human-centred' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/andrew-nally

References

Buttons in UI Design: The Evolution of Style and Best Practices. Accessed 30th March <https://uxplanet.org/buttons-in-ui-design-the-evolution-of-style-and-best-practices-56536dc5386e>

Body as Interface. Accessed 7th April [https://blog.scottlogic.com/2016/05/25/Body-as-Interface.html]

Decision trees in machine learning. Accessed 9th April

[https://towardsdatascience.com/decision-trees-in-machine-learning-641b9c4e8052]

Drucker, J. (2014). ‘Interface and interpretation’ in Graphesis: visual forms of knowledge production. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Garrett, J (2010) “The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web and Beyond” (2nd Edition) [http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements_ch02.pdf]

Morville, P. and Rosenfeld, L. (1998) Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. [https://repo.zenk-security.com/Others/Information%20Architecture%20For%20The%20World%20Wide%20Web.pdf]

Manovich, L. (1995) The Paradoxes of Digital Photography, En: Photography After Photography.Exhibition catalog, Germany.

Popular Mechanics Magazine: Flight Simulator. Accessed 7th April [https://books.google.ie/booksid=AeADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA87&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false]

Rastenberger, A-K. (2018). ‘Why exhibit? Affective spectatorship and the gaze from somewhere’, in Rastenberger, A.K. and Sikking, I. (eds.) Why Exhibit? Positions on exhibiting photographies. Amsterdam: Fw Books.

Images

Fig.1. Apple Touch ID 2017. Accessed 20th April. <https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201371>

Fig.2. Descision Tree Accessed 2018. Accessed 30th March. <https://trgr.ca/technology/web-native-app/>

Fig.3. Apple's IOS calculator . Accessed 30th March. <https://uxplanet.org/buttons-in-ui-design-the-evolution-of-style-and-best-practices-56536dc5386e>

De-materializing the social

Aimee Rose

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#Reciprocity | #Curatorial_practices | #Digital | #Circulationism | #Visuality

It is often argued that for a social art practice to actually function as social, there must be reciprocity. (Hagoort, 2016). I agree, however I also understand that the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit is always immediately possible because of the shared assumption that an encounter in art is reciprocal. Curating and photography can be compared in how they produce experiences that are not necessarily reciprocal by nature (Hagoort, 2016). But various types of art, aesthetics and concepts share the assumption that any encounter with them is by definition reciprocal. In addition, the role of curation is assumed to break down divisions between the giving artist and the receiving audience. Their combined purpose then is to break down hierarchies and inequalities.

United by a desire to create understanding through creative dialogue that crosses boundaries of race, religion, and culture - Kester.

Hagoort’s thoughts are persuasive when thinking about this idea in practice. American art historian Grant Kester, similarly describes networks of artists and collectives who are 'united by a desire to create understanding through creative dialogue that crosses boundaries of race, religion, and culture' (Kester, 2004). When looking at the type of promotional images below, it is interesting to think about who would realistically be welcomed through the doors of the exhibition (figs 1 & 2). I believe it very possible that the people involved in the curation of the show and the making of the art would turn their noses up at particular people.

There is an order of thinking which frames the way in which we experience and make sense of curation and something in the encounter we have which happens outside of reciprocity. Hagoort calls this an 'asymmetry in encounter' (2016, p.171). If humans are a flawed species with desires that often undermine the precarious balance between giving and receiving, then it is here where we see that reciprocity as a moral principle is as fundamental as it is precarious. In the social art practices of curation and photography there is a promise of reciprocity which turns into the social process itself. Here Hagoort (2016) argues that reciprocity is a social fact that is necessary way of existence. I agree with this and realise that the promise of reciprocity does not seem so much a promise as it does an ideological concept. In relation to this, Viktor Misiano (1998) argues that the more you are engaged in this system of reciprocity in the art world, 'the more you are an artist' (Misiano, 1998), leading me to believe that perhaps this is the end goal of such encounters in photography, and in the curation process.

Anyone who uses a smartphone or computer is now a curator of sorts because of the ways in which digital platforms have allowed individuals to carefully curate spaces online, some of which can be seen in figures three and four, despite how generic some representations of personalised expressions and opinions might be. The Internet’s ubiquitous and ever-growing influence across numerous spheres of activity in developed societies is still being understood by artists and curators alike, bringing into question the contexts and ways in which these kinds of activities meaningfully represent a form of curatorial selection.

The promise of reciprocity does not seem so much a promise as it does an ideological concept.

As the Internet has developed 'curator’s have increasingly used it as an exhibition tool' (Ghidini, 2019). These curators and the artists not only set up and arrange exhibitions, but now also create events and archives. We can see examples of this given the current global crisis wherein various galleries and museums such as IMMA have created projects for their audiences to take part in by means of the Internet and social media (fig 5). However, despite the curator’s work in creating such events, Lowry (2018) argues that the prestige, influence and visibility of the curator in relation to the artist in creating these things can be highly disproportionate.

Algorithmically powered content creates what are known as echo chambers of numerous opinions and perspectives.

Lowry introduces us to the term “circulationism” (2018, 14) which I find to be of key importance to this discussion, wherein it is not necessarily about the art of making an image anymore, but the post production, launch and acceleration of it. An artwork can simultaneously exist as a single entity or have multiple materializations due to its introduction to the Internet. Due to digitization, the specifics about the medium of the physical artwork might become less important than knowing what the work does. I agree with Lowry that this dematerialization of the artwork which could too lead to the dematerialization of the artist.

Fig 5 Screengrab showing IMMA’s Inside Out project initiative during the current pandemic.

The artist and artwork is often interpreted and valued through driven perceptions of popularity which come with the usage of numerous Internet platforms. Algorithmically powered content creates what are known as echo chambers of numerous opinions and perspectives. These algorithmic collections are said to have very little variation as opposed to human-curated ones such as Spotify playlists or Netflix title suggestions. Nonetheless, it is clear to me that these algorithms increasingly influence the way in which we consume culture while being less able to introduce content that has a better chance of expanding our horizons. Lowry argues that “it is imperative that curators present content that actively ruptures filter bubbles and echo chambers” (Lowry, 2018, 19) and that the role of the curator must evolve, and is evolving, in response to the ubiquitous nature of the digital image.

Citation

Rose, A. (2020) 'De-materialising the social' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/aimee-rose

References

Ghidini, M. (2019) ‘Curating on the Web: The Evolution of Platforms as Spaces for Producing and Disseminating Web-Based Art’, Arts, 8(3). Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/8/3/78/htm [Accessed 21 April 2020].

Hagoort, E. (2016). ‘Pertaining Asymmetry’, in Beatrice von Bismarck, Benjamin

Meyer-Krahmer (eds.) Hospitality: hosting relations in exhibitions - cultures of the curatorial.

Berlin: Sternberg Press.

IMMA. (2020) IMMA. Available at: https://imma.ie/whats-on/immainsideout-collective-project/ [Accessed 25 April 2020].

Kester, G. (2004) ‘The Eyes of the Vulgar’. In: Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art. US: University of California Press.

Lowry, S (2018). ‘Curating with the internet’ in Buckley, B and Comomos, J. (eds.) A

Companion to Curation. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Misiano, V. (1998) The Institutionalization of Friendship. Available at: http://irwin-nsk.org/texts/institualisation/ [Accessed 14 April 2020].

Images

Figure 1: Leonhard’s Gallery. (2019) David Yarrow - “Wild Encounters”. Available at: http://www.leonhardsgallery.com/exhibition/david-yarrow-wild-encounters/ [Accessed 25 April 2020].

Figure 2: Leonhard’s Gallery. (2019) David Yarrow - “Wild Encounters”. Available at: http://www.leonhardsgallery.com/exhibition/david-yarrow-wild-encounters/ [Accessed 25 April 2020].

Fig 3. Rose, A. (2020) Instagram Screenshot 01 [Image].

Fig 4. Rose, A. (2020) Instagram Screenshot 02 [Image].

Fig 5. Rose, A. (2020) Screenshot of IMMA website [Image].

Human(istic inter)faces

Isabel Mullarney

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#Curation_mindset | #Education | #Development | #Sustainability | #Ecology

When images are used as a method of transferring knowledge between people, they typically are designed to have multiple entry points. These start people on different pathways to information, catching their attention. The route depends on what path they took from their starting point. This is not unlike using Google, for example, and the scale of the access its search engine has to huge amounts of information and databases made visible to Google. Our screens are constantly being filled with more and more information of a wide variety of topics and depending on what is typed into the search bar is what effects the results the user sees on their screens.

Sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have a constant feed built into the website constantly refreshing and pushing new information into the sight of the viewer and can be a mix of video, image or text. Looking into the philosophy of humanism, it writes about how what people do and how people work has an effect on the world. I can see that it has been documented and highlighted and used for different reasons like showing the effects of global warming and photography aided it and the pieces shown in galleries and online to provoke viewers into noticing. I think it is engaging when Scott (2012) writes about judging the photography of others photography. When writing critically he also aims to be encouraging to the photographer. Humanism in photography is about the emotions shown in the subjects of the image and we accept that emotion affects how the image is viewed.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s Irinaland over the Balkans (1969). Copyright Kunst Haus Vienna.

Bettina Leidl, director of Kunsthaus Vienna.

Facade of the Kunst Haus Vienna, which was designed by the celebrated artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Photo by Thomas Meyer.

The text begins by describing the museum and what surrounds it. The museum was built to be just that and not like a house or home that was later made into a museum space. In recent years she says that the program has focused on nature, ecology and photography and then talks about how multiple biologists and photographers have dealt with the topic of nature and photography by working together. The research in projects is very important, and that is something I’m learning through my photography studies education.

The work we do in our research books help us throughout the project when it comes to stepping forward without work and making it to a higher standard. The three levels she talks about are all factors to take into consideration when setting up an exhibition and deciding on how to show the pieces so that the audience understands and can take it in and make it memorable and engaging. At the end of the section, she asks the question if art “can have a real effect” on things like environmental decisions made by the government, and I think yes. If there are hard facts photographed proof makes it easier for people to understand and fully comprehend the point being made. The more people who understand the problems, the more attention it will get and the government will have to pay attention when there are hundreds of people pushing it. I

Leidl speaks about how museums may host environment-themed exhibitions but they dont highlight topics such as 'sustainability and ecology in order to achieve an effect with the visitor'. It goes on to look at the lighting used that could be changed to help our atmosphere like LED lights. The phrase ‘practise what you preach’ comes to mind after reading this article. If all museums made small changes, it could, in the long run, make a difference. These should include changes in museums' restaurants and gift shops that re-consider what is sustainable to sell and what is not. Leidl practices what she preaches and advocates for the importance of the environment and sustainability on her own website and in museum forums.

Citation

Mullarney, I. (2020) 'The human(istic inter)face' in Curating Photography: Poolside. TU Dublin: BA Photography [Online]. Available at www.curating.photography/post/isabel-mullarney

References

Brown, K., (2019). ‘How Can Museums Become More Green? One Art Institution In Vienna Is Leading The Charge By Taking These Simple Steps | Artnet News’. [online] Artnet News. Available at: <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/kunsthaus-wien-climate-hundertwasser-1686565> [Accessed 26 April 2020].

Dean, G., Dartford, R., Graham, A., writers, m., McCaffrey, E. and Wilson, S., (2019). ‘Museums: More Than Just A Cultural Environment?’. [online] The Courier Online. Available at: <http://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/museums-more-than-just-a-cultural-environment/> [Accessed 26 April 2020].

Drucker, J. (2014). ‘Interface and interpretation’ in Graphesis: visual forms of knowledge production. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Gabriel, M.,( 2019). ‘Humanism In Photography: Its Meaning & Importance | Contrastly’. [online] Contrastly. Available at: <https://contrastly.com/humanism-in-photography-its-meaning-importance/> [Accessed 26 April 2020].

Rastenberger, A-K. (2018). ‘In conversation with Bettina Leidl on photography institutions and sustainability’, in Rastenberger, A.K. and Sikking, I. (eds.) Why Exhibit? Positions on exhibiting photographies. Amsterdam: Fw Books.

Scott, K., (2012). ‘Judging Photography - A Humanistic Approach - Touching The Light - Ken Scott Photography’. [online] Touching the Light - Ken Scott Photography. Available at: <https://touchingthelight.co.uk/blog/2012/09/judging-photography-a-humanistic-approach/> [Accessed 26 April 2020].