Reading 1: How to Crit

1. What are some challenges you face when giving a critique?
2. How do you handle a critique that you disagree with?
3. Why do you think it’s important to give and receive critiques?

1. Some of the challenges I face when giving a critique is that I am not sure if what I am about to say would be too harsh or if I am wrong about what I am saying. I do enjoy complimenting people during their critiques, and how I normally format my critiques is that I start with a suggestion and then go on to say what I like about the piece. But that is only if I get the courage to talk out loud. I can never really give a critique unless prompted to or if I really did like the piece or found a flaw that would be beneficial for them to know about. Besides that, I usually tend to stay quiet because I would rather not force myself to say anything as it may be of no help to anyone.

2. When I receive a critique that I don't necessarily agree with, I briefly explain my reasoning but then agree with what the person is saying. One instance I recall something like this happening was in my animation class in the fall where my prof told me he did not like a certain element. After he was done I briefly explain my reasoning behind the element. But he did have a very good point so I couldn't disagree with him. Usually, I just take note of the critique and thank the person for their feedback. So far I have never left a critique feeling bad about my work and the comments I received, so I am thankful for that. But overall, I usually explain myself if I have to or I will take note of the comments and see how to implement it in future work if I can. In the future, if I do receive some feedback I don't agree with and I have no excuse to respond, I can go to a prof for additional feedback and advice to help me improve.

3. I think it is very important to give and receive critiques. The purpose of critiques is to help improve projects. It's always best to have other people look at your work and give feedback because they can give you opinions that you can think about and use to improve your work and future projects. And if you truly do think that you're project is perfect that is even more the reason why you should go get a critique. It is always good to get someone else's opinion, so a critique would be even more beneficial. You can you these comments to your advantage, by knowing your peers' thoughts and how they see things. Critiques are also a really good way to help boost morale and give positive feedback to peers. And just as receiving critiques is important, giving them is as well since it can help you communicate with peers and of course, you should try to help them when you can.

Reading 2: What Screens Want

1. Where do you stand with the two ideological camps: flat and skeuo? For example, do you think one is "better" than the other or do you strongly believe in one or the other.
2. What is a zoopraxiscope and how does it relate to web and interaction design? Find another example from filmmaking or another medium that has inspired digital design.with?
3. Do you agree with that screens want "flux"? Explain why you do or do not.

1. After giving both ideological camps some thought, to see which one I prefer more over the other, I realize that it really matters how each camp is used to display what type of information or what the program or site will be used for. It does not matter to the screens since they are, just as Frank Chimero said “screens are aesthetically neutral… the look of things are not a part of their grain”. The context of the display matters as to which ideological camp is used to display whatever is on the screen to the user in the best possible way to get interactivity from the user and in a way that would make sense. Both flats and skeuomorphs both are aesthetically pleasing in their own right. Things that are flat can be used to create aesthetically pleasing websites, and along with different techniques, the purpose of certain elements that are meant to be interacted with in a certain way will be understood. Most designs nowadays are usually flat, one reason for this could be that overall, most people know the workings of these elements and can interact with them with ease, and for newer and evolved designs, most people could understand how it works by looking at it. However, designers do have to put more effort into flat designs even though the majority of people understand the basics. Personally, I do find myself leaning towards flat designs because it is something I am used to, but I wouldn't say it is better than things that are. Designs that are skeuo are really cool as well. Seeing something that looks realistic on a flat screen is always something that is interesting and much easier to understand since people have most likely interacted with the same elements in real life, so little explanation will be needed. However, nowadays skeuo designs are not as common overall in most user interfaces, they are quite common in applications that are used for creative input or where the learning curve is quite steep. The most common place to see and interact with skeuo camps would be in DJ or music creating apps where they have interactive pianos, guitar strings, and a mixer. Most drawing apps on tablets also have skeuo elements to replicate drawing on actual paper. These things mimic interactions that we have in real life which makes them easier to use. Both flat and skeuo designs are good in their own ways as long as they are executed properly.

2. Zoopraxiscopes were the first invention that was created with the purpose of capturing movement. It was created by Eadweard Muybridge in the 19th century. The way the zoopraxiscope works is that many images are printed on a glass disc and while it was spinning, it would be lit from behind, and the light would have to land on a surface to be viewed. This is the first example of video recording and of screens. As Chimero stated, these movement captures look incredibly similar to GIFs. Muybridge's invention, as said by Chimero, is what led is to the screens that we have today. First, it was capturing motion that could be viewed on screen, like in old there that played movies from a roll of film. People also were able to display hand-drawn animations and show it on the big screens. This is also an inspiration to stop motion. As said before, capturing movement and putting it on screens was a huge step forward. And most websites, there is at least some form of movement than inspires interactivity.

3. If we were to speak in literal terms, as stated by Frank Chimero “screens are aesthetically neutral” it does not matter if we were to evolve technology any further. The difference is that we want things to change. We will change how interactions will change with screens. One of the biggest fluxes with screens in my opinion is how we made them even more interactive by being able to use our fingers to manipulate what is on the screen without the use of a mouse. The beginning of touch screens was the biggest change that I experienced, I saw smartphones come out, as did many other people, and was amazed. Animations have also fluxed quite a bit which is remarkable. Everything has the capability to flux and that is a good thing. The medium level of flux that Frank Chimero is descriptive animations to viewers. Many other similar elements are evolving on screens. Websites and applications are customized based on the user. The way people interact with things, including screens, is evolving. I would say it is more so that people are evolving along with technology. But yes, in the end, I do agree that screens are fluxing and people want it to flux because that is just the way we are. In a sense… we want everything to flux in some way, don't we?

Reading 3: Touring Complete User

1.What do you think is Lialina's opinion of the word "user"?
2. What is Lialina's ideal internet user? Provide some of the qualities that she outlines.
3. From your own experiences interacting on the web—what is an example where there are "gaps that can be filled by users"?

1. In the article, Lialina talks about how in 2008, Don Norman ceased addressing Users as Users because as he stated “One of the horrible words we use is users. I am on a crusade to get rid of the word ‘users’. I would prefer to call them ‘people.’”. And later in 2011, Lev Manovich also showed his distaste for the term “User”. He wrote in his blog “For example, how do we call a person who is interacting with digital media? User? No good.” Lialina agrees with this train of that, she even says that it's a pity that we narrow people to “Users”. I think that she makes it clear that referring to people as just Users is insulting. It's not exactly the word itself that is the issue, it's more so the way it's used to describe people who use technology. The term is quite outdated It removes the complexity of online behavior and ties them all together.

2. The ideal user that Lialina describes in the article is called General Purpose User. In simpler words described as Universal Users or Turing Complete Users, as a reference to the Universal Machine, also known as Universal Turing Machine. These users have the ability to achieve their goals without being held by their hands the entire time. Lialina states that this type of user is not at all some sort of super user, a half of a hacker, or in any way an exotic user. Just someone who has the mindset of being able to do things without needing a specific application or program to do everything for them, or not using the entirety of an application or website for its intended purpose. An example that Lialina gave that I thought described the ideal user quite well was her example of having two Twitter accounts. You login to one account on Chrome, and the other on another web browser like Firefox. This way you don't have to switch between accounts by logging in and out, which can take up an annoying amount of time, or download some sort of application or web addon to organize accounts for you.

3. Perhaps I may not be on the right page, but I can think of things that could be considered an intentional gap. The first thing that came to mind was the website Pinterest. The website and/or app are dynamic along with the user, and things that show up on your screen are things that you have searched up. I think that organizing the boards could be an intentional gap, since it is intended for the user to control which pins they want to save and to which board, and saved to which section of the board. Unintentional gaps would definitely be considered an error or bug. I'm sure I’ve run into quite a few but I know that they all have gotten resolved so I can't really recall. Perhaps most gaps that people do come across don't even register to them since pressing a few buttons one after the other doesn't seem like such a big task that involves any intelligence at all as to how the article describes. If we were to look at it technically or as to how the article puts it out, basically every program and website has some sort of gaps that I forced to be filled by the user.

Reading 4: My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge

1.Why does Laurel Schwulst advocate for individual websites over social media? Do you agree with her? Please explain your answer.
2. In this article, Schwulst outlines several metaphors defining the behaviour of websites. Write a paragraph describing your own metaphor for a website. Put that text into its own simple website designed to extend that comparison. Upload it to your github server and post the link here.

1. From the start of the article, Laurel Schwulst starts talking about social media as a whole. She states that all the universally popular social media platforms, as convenient and accommodating as they are, are all private companies that focus on and prioritize advertisement rather than their user's needs. Schwulst says that, unlike social media, most websites are created to set the record straight. She says that her favorite thing about websites is their duality, that they are both an object at once. I agree with Laurel Schwulst that social media is draining and that the only thing that seems to be in focus is advertising. Because of these things I've deleted Snapchat and only go on Instagram when my friends insist I go like their posts or to answer a few DMS I get from people who can't text me anywhere else. Technically the only social media I use is Tumblr, Pinterest, Discord, and Whatsapp I guess if that counts as social media. Tumblr does have advertisements but it's never really in the focus, unlike Instagram. Pinterest has a lot of advertisements, to the point where it gets annoying, but I need the art references and I treasure my Pinterest boards way too much. Discord and Whatsapp have been used for texting and I don't recall seeing any ads, excluding Discord Nitro. I do prefer to go visit people's websites to check out their art and other works since they are much more organized and more fun to go through. However, I don't think we can replace social media with websites since social media's purpose is to interact with others. If you make a website where the main use is to interact with others, technically it becomes social media. The best solution is to use social media that isn't a private company. I do firmly believe that if you have work to show, it is much better to create a website so then your work isn't shown through a private company.

Reading 5: the Poetry of Tools

1. In the opening paragraph of her post, Seu asks you, the reader to join her to 'defamiliarize our tools.' What do you think she means by that? And how do you think that action relates to her use of the word poetry?
2.Seu outlines 6 categories within her taxonomy of tool poetics (Slow Growth & Slow Death, Early Works, Performing Data, Removing Function from Form, Production of Errors, & Regeneration). Choose at least one of these categories and define it in your own words. Now find a website or online interface* not mentioned in her post that you feel operates within the chosen definition. Explain why.

1. The word “Defamiliarize” is the artistic technique of presenting common elements to audiences uncommonly or unexpectedly in order for them to get fresh views and perceive the world differently. What Mindy Seu is asking us is to forget about the tools that we use when interacting with technology and to instead, open ourselves and try to use them as a vehicle for contemplation. I believe that Mindy Seu is saying to forget about what we already know and to start fresh. The way I understood this is by comparing this to how you could teach yourself something. Suppose you are trying to learn or understand something. Sometimes it is best to throw everything that u already know out the window and start anew, which can be challenging. This can help you understand things better. Just like how if you know something very well, you can easily take shortcuts that make sense. Shortcuts probably don't apply to what Mindy Seu is saying. But by forgetting everything like what she is displaying, you can learn more. I liked how she said that identifying the constraints of these tools that we use to navigate the online world can help us recognize their poetic potential. Seu says that these limited capabilities are what shaped the appearance of early computer art, and new forms of art identify these limitations and exploit them as critical.

2. One of the 6 categories of Mindy Seu’s list in taxonomy of tool poetics is “early works”. From what I understood as per Mindy Seu’s definition, early works are based off of early examples of computer and human interactions with technological limitations that shaped the way it works and how it was seen. With this, poetic meaning could be seen from the constraints of the piece in how it was consumed back then and now. The viewer is drawn to sit, observe, and listen due to the tempo of these works, whether deliberate or not. An example of a website that I think fits this category is http://www.itwillneverbethesame.com/ I can't remember where or how I found it, but I kept the link saved with a bunch of other interesting stuff that I keep note of. The way the website works is that you press down on your mouse and you will start driving forward, and if you move your mouse, you turn that way. The design is so minimalistic but when you’re moving... It's just so mesmerizing. Especially if you make it fullscreen. I think this website fits the early works category because of the minimal interaction and how it makes you want to stare at it for hours. At least that's how it is for me.