Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency

by Jay David Bolter, Diane Gromala

The experience of digital art and how it is relevant to information technology. In Windows and Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency , Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala argue that, contrary to Donald Norman's famous dictum, we do not always want our computers to be invisible "information appliances." They say that a computer does not feel like a toaster or a vacuum cleaner; it feels like a medium that is now taking its place beside other media like printing, film, radio, and television. The computer as medium creates new forms and genres for artists and designers; Bolter and Gromala want to show what digital art has to offer to Web designers, education technologists, graphic artists, interface designers, HCI experts, and, for that matter, anyone interested in the cultural implications of the digital revolution. In the early 1990s, the World Wide Web began to shift from purely verbal representation to an experience for the user in which form and content were thoroughly integrated. Designers brought their skills and sensibilities to the Web, as well as a belief that a message was communicated through interplay of words and images. Bolter and Gromala argue that invisibility or transparency is only half the story; the goal of digital design is to establish a rhythm between transparency—made possible by mastery of techniques—and reflection—as the medium itself helps us understand our experience of it. The book examines recent works of digital art from the Art Gallery at SIGGRAPH 2000. These works, and their inclusion in an important computer conference, show that digital art is relevant to technologists. In fact, digital art can be considered the purest form of experimental design; the examples in this book show that design need not deliver information and then erase itself from our consciousness but can engage us in an interactive experience of form and content.

Genres: Art, Design

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jay David Bolter is Wesley Chair of New Media and Codirector of the Augmented Media Lab at Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the author of Remediation: Understanding New Media (with Richard Grusin), Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art and the Myth of Transparency (with Diane Gromala), both published by the MIT Press, and other books.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A walk through the history of digital interface design, with a focus on computer UI/UX and interactive art. Written in 2003, it feels pretty dated. The main idea is that media can be designed to be a window or a mirror.

Windows give you a direct view to information e.g. the filesystem browser on a computer. The interface should feel invisible. Mirrors are supposed to be compelling experiences that reflect the user, so for example, interactive art that displays an image of the user on a screen, collaged with other images. The interface shouldn't fade into the background. The author argues that most design should have both aspects of windows and mirrors.

One important consideration in cultural context. Someone's goal may be do design a window-like system, but without extensive UX design testing, you may just end up with something that's confusing or buggy. Designers can use cultural elements to bring context to a design, mirroring other media around us.

The author also argues that there's no single superior form of media. Instead of moving into a VR world, devices are moving into our physical world. Artists are still exploring different configurations of design.

[Nini Pharsenadze · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved reading about the Wooden Mirror, especially Bolter and Gromala’s following description: “Wooden Mirror is also a playful reminder that a mirror is a surface and not a window onto a different world. It is a strangely truthful kind of mirror that doesn’t deliver on its promise of transparency, in part because the wooden tiles have a pleasing texture that makes us aware of the surface.” (Bolter, Gromala; 2003). Although the idea of the Wooden Mirror is fascinating and honest, this description of it devaluates the whole meaning of a computer screen. I think the material honesty of computer screens is not of importance when it comes to their functionality. Creating realistic virtualization of analog and easing everyday life by making everything accessible on one screen is what matters more than material honesty. Yet, I understand Bolter and Gromala’s judgment and fascination with machinery that resembles digital yet is honest. At the end of the day, the work was written in 2003.

[dilettante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Não é o meu tipo de livro, li para ter fundamentos para um projeto na faculdade e serviu-me prefeitamente para isso. Não é simplesmente muito a minha área de interesse, mas tem argumentos válidos sobre design, acompanhada de uma resenhazinha histórica das interfaces dos computadores. Senti que aprendi algo novo sem dúvida, mas o livro é um pouquinho repetitivo. Eitherway, obrigada pelo 17!

[maha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can a librarian please add a second author to this book?
"Diane Gromala" Diane Gromala

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some well articulated ideas about the relationship between media art and HCI in the introduction.