Interface Culture- Post 3

Interface Culture- Bitmapping:
When I sit down at my computer, I turn it on, I type on my key board, I use my mouse…All of these things I have taken for granted until now. I have never looked at my computer as “art work” or even something more than a machine. The ideas and time that has been put into making my computer what it is today is absolutely amazing. Prior I had heard the term “interface” but never really understood the depth of how much it effects the interaction that we have with our computers. Interface is our source of communication; it is the “translator, mediating between the two parties, making one sensible to the other.” Without interface, we wouldn’t have communication between us and the computer. I also thought the part about requiring a new visual language was very interesting, I know that computers have become an essential asset to our everyday lives, but when the article compares the “Agora” to the twenty first century and how it will be located in cyberspace it really made me stop and think. Eventually will everything be strictly through a computer? Will we lose the personal face to face time and have everything over a computer screen? The last part of the article that I thought was interesting was the part about direct manipulation. This refers back to my first sentence of using my mouse…yes I have a mouse, but have I ever really stopped and thought about what the mouse is doing? I am in control with the mouse, telling the computer what to do instead of having the computer guide me. The article made a comment about, without a direct link it is more of a TV watching experience than being in control of the machine. I completely agree, I would much rather have control on a computer system than sit back and wait for something to happen.

Interface Culture-Desktop:
I think that the way that the “Desktop” originated was kind of cool, someone who was looking for all of the qualities that his desk shared, being able to work on one item at a time, while not losing the other. I also think through all of these articles, we are learning that instead of creating new, everything is just improved from the prior idea, when Mac created the desktop that had the interface of menus, icons, folders and trash cans, everything created after has just been an improvement of the original idea.

Desktop & Bitmapping

Eric Sevilla
Desktop
After reading the article, “The Desktop,” by Stephen Johnson, it made me think how personal a desktop can be. On the desktop, the user is capable of customizing their desktop as they see fit and have the desktop setup to be efficient for them to use and locate what they’re searching for. The user is able to change the background image, the color of their layout, changing fonts and so much more. Now a day, a lot of the gadgets and technology can be customized to fit the style and preference of the user.
The desktop screen is the essential basis of a computer and how it works. It is where the desktop, the interface where everything is displayed and where you can easily search and access all of your programs and documents. With the new developments and innovations, the convenience and user friendly it is and the new possibilities of a computer, it completely changed the thought and concept of what a computer was supposed to be used for and what the purpose of the computer. The computer is the new means and method of how we achieve and carry out our everyday tasks in this digital age today.
Bitmap
After reading Stephen Johnson’s “Bitmapping: An Introduction” made me imagine what kind of computer they were working with back then and comparing it to what we consider a computer to be. There is definitely a big advancement in the computer technology. One invention that grabbed my attention was the use of the mouse and keyboard. Today we define a computer to have a monitor, a hard drive, a keyboard and a mouse. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to utilize or operate the computer.
The mouse on a computer became essential in navigating around the computer. The mouse allowed the user the capability of controlling the data on the screen. The pointing arrow cursor allowed the user to select and open folders and documents rather that imputing key commands to gain access to the data on the computer.

Bitmapping and The Desktop

"Bitmapping"

Johnson's conception of the user interface as a "kind of translator; mediating between two parties, making one sensible to the other". If computers did not have a user interface they would be practically useless as due to the difficulty of understanding the raw binary code which goes on behind the scenes of the modern user interface. The user interface translates the binary code into symbols and shapes that humans can much more easily understand making storage and retrieval of data intuitive.

The computer interface is one that is semantic. This means that the user interface is based on symbols, the reason for which is that humans learn and share knowledge by the use of symbols. The lowest level of symbolism that computers use is binary ones and zeros, which by itself is nearly impossible to understand, however with hardware like a monitor display and a means to translate the ones and zeros into more familiar symbols such as letters of the English alphabet computers become easier to understand. Beyond the letters of the alphabet are bitmaps which display images such as graphics and photographs. Combine bitmaps with Engelbart's mouse and users can now navigate the computer as an environment or space rather than an attachment to our bodies.

"The Desktop"

Interface designers of today have a much more difficult task than the designers in Doug Engelbart's day. Designers in his time were dealing with minute amounts of data that could be stored on a floppy disk. Today's designers are dealing with terabytes worth of data and beyond. Stephen Johnson brings up the symbolism of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe which showed the story of the bible through gargoyles and other intricate statues, paintings and stained glass to help the illiterate people learn the stories. Johnson compares this to modern architecture and brings up the point that the early designers of interfaces for the dataspace brought on by the bitmapping revolution had to deal with the creation from scratch of these visual metaphors that would be the way people interacted with data.

The desktop metaphor of the computer user interface came about by accident at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Alan Kay came up with the idea of the interface being a virtual desk with sheets of paper stacked on top of each other. The paper at the top of the stack would be the active window and the others below it readily accessible. This is essentially the concept that has stuck with us through several versions of windows and since the Macintosh through many versions of the Mac OS. Also brought up are 3D interfaces and how they might be used in the future as a possible alternative to the 2D desktop interface. In the chapter Johnson describes some early 3D interfaces used for chatting with strangers and friends online via the use of avatars. A modern recreation of this would be the game World of Warcraft. Users still create an avatar and they are able to chat, among many other game activities such as fishing, fighting, etc.

Discussion 3

BITMAP

Bitmap has allowed us to completely customize our desktops. Everything inside the computer from fonts, colors, images, screensavers, and user icons can be uniquely ours.

With Doug Engelbart's invention of "Bit Mapping" he allowed information to be stored in a more organized fashion. Repeated numerical 0's and 1's are a code which the computer reads

and translates into functions and stores information. Engelbart was a key in the evolution of the computer.

DESKTOP

Desktops are becoming more and more personalized. With the addition of "desktop applications" users can quickly glance at their desktop to update themselves on anything from weather

to global news. Background images can be selected as a virtual slideshow. The time and calandar appears on the desktop for quick referencing. The desktop acts as the "home" for the

computer which is completely customizable for the user. Macintosh (Steve Jobs) was the first company to create a computer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface). Today generally Macs are

better for anything visual or computer appearance vs. windows based computers.

-James Bishop

Desktop & Bitmapping

Desktop
The desktop has become one of the most over looked areas of a computer. The desktop has become more user friendly and even customizable to each specific user. The concept of having a three dimensional interface, background, had immensely improved on how it use to look like in its two dimensional phase. The desktop was no longer plain, dull and lifeless, it became more personalize-able and user friendly.\

Bitmapping

In the article by S. Johnson was very interesting. D. Engelbart was one man I did not know nor why he was imported in the “computer world”. Engelbart took part and was able to take information and was able to have a simple computer translate and make it eairler for users to use. Bitmapping takes 1’s and 0’s to be able to read letters and products that we see.
Since this is all done in the underlying layers of the computers programming we never see this happening. This is another item that is under looked in the computer world. One would only know if they were a computer wiz, that computers talk with 1’s and 0’s. Engelbart revolutionized the worlds and has changed how the computer works. I don’t think that Doug Engelbart is getting the recognition that he should be getting for evolving the computer age. Apple took this and used bitmapping, and also the well known Billgates “Microsoft Windows” both use bitmapping.

Bit Mapping/The Desktop

Orquidia Schon

"Bit Mapping"

As I read the article by Stephen Johnson it took me into a different era of computers and how they came to be what they are now. The initiation of bit mapping was brought out in a conference in San Francisco back in 1968 what we now consider the historic change for computers. (p.11) The story Doug Engelbart tried to convey to that audience was that of storing data in a way that it would be like "strolling through the rooms of the palace". Information stored in a device would not all be translated into visual language that was a quest that Engelbart had not reached yet. (p.13) Egenlbart like other scientist had read the essay that Vannevar Bush had written regarding the Memex system and was inspired by it. (p.13) The system of bit mapping was the one system that mimics the Memex system that he had read about from the essay that predicted these kind of systems. 

An interface is described as the "interaction" between the system and human beings. Computers then were only able to give us stored information versus us being able to think and analyze information on our own. The way that humans think could never be replicated by a computer unless they were created to be a replica of us and even then it was not seen as possible then or now. The article goes into depth of the way that computers use ones and zeros to code the information that is stored or direction as to what should be on the interface. The term computers comes from people being human calculators then storing the information on a device that they initially called a computer. (p.17) As Johnson also goes on to describe the use of the first Mac computer and what the use of it was back then. As the computer continues to evolve the internet was one of the ways that art was the start of being used on the interfaces of computers. The merging of the internet into computers is described as the new way to to see the interfaces of computers in different locations. 

A couple more additions that were later added to the computer were a keyboard and a mouse. The keyboard did not have as mush success as the mouse but they were both presented by Engelbart also. The mouse allowed the user to manipulate the information of the screen versus just storing data. The pointing device allowed for selecting and opening folders instead of imputing commands it became easier to access information on the computer.  Furthermore bit mapping is being viewed as the way that computers got their start and how they have developed from back then to now.

"The Desktop"

Just as bit mapping was described by Stephen Johnson the desktop was also one of the readings that he was able to make us see the evolution of it and how it came to be. He compares the desktop the gothic cathedral ceilings of a church. The art that the desktop has been designed portray is why this is viewed as media art. He also goes on to describe how Alan Kay came up with a more deep illustration of the desktop. Engelbart had came up with bit mapping and storage but had not given us a three dimensional approach as Johnson explains. (p.47)

We also explore the start of Mac computers and their founder Steven Jobs. When the Mac came out it was the "computer for the rest of us". (p.49) This mac had menus, icons, trash cans & folders. This was the mac that you could personalize and make your own. This was also considered the first mass media promotion according to Johnson.  As the mac evolved we also read on that the PC and Microsoft also become part of this computer evolution. As Johnson continues to explain the great features of the computer he also mentions all the political problems we started to have with having a dominating system like Microsoft. As the world of computers continues to evolve Johnson goes into detail of the many uses we have for them now. We also read on the some of the games that have been introduced through computers and are part of the younger generation. Also the way we can play games online and have different people log into computers in different locations is something more popular now than before. 

Furthermore as desktops keep evolving and the way computers keep getting better at communication people from around the world we can say that it has come along way from the times of Engelbart. He introduced us to what we now find it a necessity to have in our homes and jobs. From the invention of bit mapping to the creation of the internet we seem to be more connected now than ever.  

Discussion#The Desktop

John Whiteside VSAR 405 Discussio#3Desktop
9/24/2009

After reading Johnson’s The Desktop, I concur. Yes, when you think ofr it, we appear to be designing our own computer desktops like widows in a department or building upon it with applications and other software and tools like the construction and landscaping of a gothic cathedral. Each intrinsic part is meticulously placed and more added to enhance our desktop environment. We are arer forever addicted to downloading extras and whatnots in order to further this virtual experience. We should stop at at some point, but there always something new coming out that we tend to suffocate our own computing workspaces in the process with stuff we don’t really need.
So, yes , there is a like comparison of the desktop to the spectacle of a shopping mall or the inlay of the sacred texts belonging the pews of a gothic cathedral. In short, we can imagine the through spatial organization , but we can also step away from view and see the realisms of the situation buy and naturally not be coerced to .buy some product that we don’t believe in.
I believe in the metaphor of the desktop and do believe you can shape that metaphor any way you want it because that is a marketing strategy. Henceforth, as is pointed out in Johnson’s essay, that metaphor
has become an appendix of individuality. Now, this happened when the Apple Company and Steve Jobs stepped in. Back then, the computing world and it’s were subject the interpersonality of the PC clones and IBM. As said in the essay, the Apple computers had “character.” There was a sense of community and free will among Mac users while the PC companies tended to keep their in a non-sharing-as-authorized-by-owner-only attitude towards all other sources. Therefore, you couldn’t share outside that company’s product bylaws or upload from any other software except theirs. So, as Machulan once said about the medium being the answer to free speech , he was probably talking about the Apple Macintosh computers. The Macs were anti-propriety which meant they weren’t defined only to that company’s software, etc.
Although I never worked with their Bob operating system, I can see from this essay, that it made computing a lot more flexible.
I can understand the futility of the The Palace software. It’s talking about avatars and the protocols that come with them. I once messed with avatars before. It’s nice to be someone else, but right down to it you’re just living a lie and doing things on a more virtual, yet mechanical level.