Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media

On Chapter 5:

The Forms

He opens the chapter by drawing a mental image of Razorfish Studios,  which is one of the major success stories of silicon valley in the mid to late 90’s.   Their focus is computer based interactive design, although we are more concerned with the physical layout of the work environment. Typically the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is modeled after an office.  We have a briefcase and a trash can, and so dose the GUI. However, at Razorfish, their work environment is modeled after the “computer culture’s key themes-interactivity, lack of hierarchy,modularity.” The reception area is no longer a strict ”gateway,” and the employees are not organized on a grid based on their discipline. 

The origination of the GUI naturally was modeled after the familiar form of functionality typically found in the organization and productive environment, i.e. the work place, or a cubical.  Things have now flip flopped.  The use of computers, especially the web, has made a lasting impact on our culture, so much that the computer or digital experience is no longer a clone of our preexisting “familiar physical interfaces.”  It is clear that in Razorfish’s organization of their work environment they embrace the computer culture which allows for it to influence the physical instead of the physical forcing itself onto the computer culture.

He moved on to discus the two main types of GUI forms, “a collection of documents and a navigable space.” Traditionally the “collection of documents” method is used to store and retrieve informative files such as a spreadsheet or a word doc that is simply used to inform.  The “navigable space” method is very effective in giving the user a since of immersion such as in a 3D video game or an environment such as Second Life. 

Although, most of us who have experienced both GUI methods can piece together a few examples of when the practices crossed over.  When “information access” and “psychological engagement” show up at the same place and at the same time a new and different term is needed, “info-aesthetics–a theoretical analysis of the aesthetics of information access as well as the creation of new media objects that anesthetize information processing.”   

 

 

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