Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency (Leonardo Book Series) [Hardcover]

Jay David Bolter (Author), Diane Gromala (Author)

Book Description

Series: Leonardo Book Series | Publication Date: October 24, 2003

In Windows and Mirrors: 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cast as a walk through an electronic art gallery at the turn of the millennium in the company of two wise and witty friends of great common sense and uncommon vision, *Windows and Mirrors* involves its readers in a literally delight-full conversation which sometimes becomes a shared dream of breathtaking new vistas and possibilities. Media studies students in high school or college, professional designers, computer scientists, electronic artists, and a wide general audience alike will want to take this walk, have this conversation, and dream these dreams with Bolter and Gromala."--Michael Joyce, Vassar College

"I recommend this book... a refreshing experience and source of inspiration." Gerd Waloszek SAP Design Guild

" Mirrors and Windows is a thought-provoking, provocative discourse about the nature of technology and society. The essays are certain to raise eyebrows, evoke "Ahas!", and stimulate further debate about computers, user interfaces, design, art, culture, society, and technology." Aaron Marcus , President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc., prophet and pioneer of user-interface design

"Kate Hayles reads with real attention and attention to the real, attending to electronic literature and hybrid verbal/visual forms with an eye to the materiality and mediality at their heart."--Michael Joyce, Vassar College

"Windows and Mirrors is a thought-provoking, provocative discourse about the nature of technology and society. The essays are certain to raise eyebrows, evoke 'Ahas!', and stimulate further debate about computers, user interfaces, design, art, culture, society, and technology."--Aaron Marcus, President, Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc., prophet and pioneer of user-interface design

About the Author

Diane Gromala, PhD., is the Canada Research Chair at the School of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 194 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262025450
• ISBN-13: 978-0262025454
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,054,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a window of sorts and will tell you so many times, March 28, 2004

By 

Frances Farmer "effle-ess" (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency (Leonardo Book Series) (Hardcover)

First, this book in not a novel.

Second, some reviewers miss the subtle points raised in this text. Perhaps if unfamiliar with the theoretical bases to the discussion--and it should be mentioned that the theory informing this discussion is acknowledged at the outset, but pointedly left aside in favour of practice--one might, in fact, not grasp the extent of the points raised here.

For example, it is rather beside the point that the discussion surrounds various installments at SIGGRAPH 2000--this should not be taken as an indication of an out-dated approach, as, again, some readers might be apt to think. In fact, what the authors discuss are the more generic (as in genre) questions and that digital art and design prompt, not to mention those raised by the historical and social imperatives "embedded" in a media-saturated culture like ours.

The use of metaphors like windows and mirrors might be a bit too cute and/ or convenient, and the writing itself tends toward the over-simple and somewhat plodding (to the extent that some readers might wonder whether, a writer declaring a preference for a non-theoretical text is an excuse for a prose style targeted toward highschoolers). This is, of course, in spite of the writers' apparent desire to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

So, yes, the book is easy to read, and while this shouldn't take away from its overall impact, I think it can. IN other words, by writing for a wider, less theoretically-inclined audience, the authors may irk those who fail to grasp the bigger issues this book reflects. This, they do even while excluding (potentially) those looking for something more outwardly sophisticated and capable of sustaining a place in the discourse from which Bolter and Gromala both come.

All in all, however, Bolter and Gromala have brought us an interesting and thought provoking discussion that contextualizes digital design within the larger realm of the computer and its future as both a visible and an invisible medium of human (ironic, get it?) expression.