THEORY.DIGITAL CULTURE.EMERGING TRENDS

september 28, 2007
presentation @X-Media aRt&D, Singapore

LEV MANOVICH
Visual Arts Department, University of California - San Diego <visarts.ucsd.edu>;
Software Studies Initiative, California Instate for Information and Telecommunication (CALIT2) <www.calit2.net>

email: manovich@ucsd.edu
www.manovich.net
www.softcinema.net
softwaretheory.net

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WHAT IS THEORY?

LANGUAGE
CONCEPTS
TERMS
GRAMMARS

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INTERACTION DESIGN
INTERFACE DESIGN
INFORMATION DESIGN
INFORMATION VISUALISATION
WEB DESIGN
MOTION GRAPHICS
GAME DEVELOPMENT
(software authored) ARCHITECTURE
etc.

terms for PRACTIONERS to help them design
terms which describe the EXPERIENCE from the user POV
terms to help promote cultural understanding of these new fields

studying at B2B culture (spaces, interfaces, languages used by professionals) rather than only
P2U (producers -> users)
or U2D (user to user a la Web 2.0)
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NEW DESIGN FIELDS, or
THE MOST INTERESTING,
CREATIVE,
and LIFE-DEFINING
FIELDS of CONTEMPORARY CULTURE
ARE also THE ONES WHICH ARE LEAST WRITTEN ABOUT, LEAST CULTURALY RECOGNISED:

SPACE DESIGN (formerly Interior Design)
EXHIBITION DESIGN
RETAIL DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN (formerly Industrial Design)
FASHION SHOWS
GRAPHIC DESIGN (not new by itself but transformed by computers)
etc.

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WHERE DOES THIS "APPLIED" THEORY CAN COME FROM?

TODAY:
- theorists who are also practices and who understand the "inside" of digital culture (software, etc.);
- writers & journalists who cover particular fields ("coffee table theory");

FUTURE:
- professionals (how to extract tacit knowledge?);
- users (crowdsourcing theory);
- "cultural analytics" (a project by Software Studies Initiative at CALIT2) - data mining and visualization of very large amounts of cultural data)

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NEW PHYSICALITY

-LOCATIVE MEDIA (space infused with information);
-NEW SURFACE - surface acquires depth; becomes multi-layered; from (flat, inanimate, passive) surface to "skin";
-INTERNET OF THINGS (see Bruce Sterling's Shaping Things);
-PHYSICAL SPACES GRADUALLY acquiring CHARACTERISTCS of DIGITAL MEDIA;

-FROM MEDIA FACADES TO MEDIA SKINS;
-SURFACE AS INTERFACE (iPhone; Microsoft Surface computer; not only visual and flat but also tactile and three-dimensional - think of interfaces of mobile phones; wearable computers)
-FUTURE 1: COMPLETE CUSTOMISATION OF OBJECTS - from mass production to (complete) mass customization (i.e. what already exists in interactive (software-driven) media will also become common for objects and spaces
-FUTURE 2: NANOTECHOLOGY

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SOFTWARE STUDIES

softwaretheory.net

(Launched May 2007; we are interested in collaborations)

WHY SOFTWARE STUDIES? Social scientists, philosophers, cultural critics, and media and new media theorists now seem to cover all aspects of the IT revolution, creating a number of new disciplines such as cyber culture, Internet studies, new media theory, and digital culture. Yet the underlying engine which drives most of these subjects – software – has received little or no direct attention. Software is still invisible to most academics, artists, and cultural professionals interested in IT and its cultural and social effects. But if we continue to limit critical discussions to the notions of “cyber,” “digital,” “new media,” “web 2.0,” "user-generated content," we are in danger of always dealing only with effects rather than causes; the output that appears on a computer screen rather than the software applications and social cultures that produce these outputs.

we think of software as a layer that permeates all areas of contemporary societies. Therefore, if we want to understand contemporary techniques of control, communication, representation, simulation, analysis, decision-making, memory, vision, writing, and interaction, our analysis can't be complete until we consider this software layer.

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS:

a. Studying and disseminating information about the key applications/OS in the history of “software culture.”
Examples: Sketchpad, Aspen Movie Map, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Mosaic, Goggle Earth.

b. Studying how the use of particular software tools and software production environments impacts the content and the aesthetics of contemporary culture. Examples: After Effects and motion graphics; Maya and architecture; use of software tools to produce UGC (user-generated content).

c. Developing new methodologies in humanities and social sciences which use tools and techniques of computer science, engineering and science fields (including research at CALIT2). For example, we want to use techniques such as information visualization and visual analytics, image processing, data mining, and data clustering for the study of media and visual cultures, including computer games, video, cinema, photography and web design.

d. Developing methodologies and software tools for the study of software from humanities and social science perspectives