Reading Writing Research Methodologies

When making impossible things come true, the magician performs our desire. In this sense, the magician mediates the gap between reality (here understood as ‘the world as it is’) and desire. This know-how, which consists basically in mastering the art of deception, can also be used for purposes other than stage magic.

The magician is an intriguing figure: the domains where its influence can be found spread from the origins of the entertainment industry (Georges Méliès being one example) to collaborating with governments in military strategy, like Robert Houdin and Napoleon. This ability to act in different environments by applying the same knowledge principles according to different contexts is my motivation to write this entry.

Stage Magic

Hieronymus Bosch and workshop, 1502

The magician is a professional hired to entertain by performing tricks. Those tricks might change according to technology and culture, but the principles of stage magic are old and do not change that much as the essence of our nature does not change either. For thousands of years we have been amazed by these tricks. The state of technolgy actually does not influence our ability to keep believing. We enjoy being fooled by them.

From the perspective of the audience, the magician is someone who holds the power over the unkonwn. He (or she, even though there are much more male magicians than female ones) can control things that 'normal' people can't and is able to do things that we know are impossible. (S)He basically applies knowledge about Natural Sciences, Psychology - and more recently digital technologies - for entertainment purposes. But what exactly is entertaining about that?

One possibility is that the amusement comes from our attempt to find out the secret. But that's true to just some of us: most people would actually be upset if they could unmask magicians' tricks. For the majority of the audience, the fun lies precisely in being cheated. That does not mean to say that being cheated is always fun. But a magician is someone who has our authorization to cheat us for entertainment. This authorization relies on a specific setting, a range of situations and gestures and it usually implies not damaging nor hurting anyone involved in the performance or in the audience. It's safe and harmless.

According to Simon During, ‘there are layers and depth in the magic theater environment: curiosity, comedy, fear, sadism, amazement’. (Sina Najafi and Simon During, Cabinet Magazine, issue 26, Modern Enchantments: An Interview with Simon During, 2007) Ancient magicians were involved in rituals that would go beyond the mere entertainment with balls and cards - they were said to cure diseases and perform other miraculous actions.

By being able to control the uncontrollable, the magician performs our desire: subjecting the world to our wishes and needs, instead of having to submit to it.

British magician Teller (from Penn and Teller) defined Magic as 'the theatrical linking of a cause with an effect that has no basis in physical reality, but that — in our hearts — ought to.’

Simon During, in issue 26 from Cabinet Magazine, states that ‘one of the reasons why we feel ambivalent about magic is that it can remind us of a period of our life where we found it harder to separate the real from the amazing illusion’.

History

The first reportedly known magician, Dedi, lived in ancient Egypt (2700BC) and was supposedly able to resurrect animals after having their heads cut.

Since the beginning, magic has been associated with supernatural powers. In the Middle Ages, it has been associated with witchcraft. According to the Magicpedia, in the Renaissance a few important books were published on the subject.

'Natural Magic' (Magia natvralis libri viginti, written by John Baptista Porta in 1558) was a book on Natural Sciences and contained information on 'geology, optics, medicines, poisons, cooking, magnets and its properties, fires, gunpowders, invisible and clandestine writing'. (Wikipedia)

Magia Natvralis, book by John Baptista Porta

'The Discoverie of Witchcraft' (written in 1584 by Reginald Scot) not only disclosed trick secrets but also presented a strong position against the Catholic church for persecuting people and accusing them of being witches. It is an important landmark in the history of secular magic and its relationship with Science.

It was only in the 18th century that the magician as a gentleman-performer, like we know today started to be shaped. Magic had been performed in basically 3 formats: court magic, performed for royals and aristocrats, itinerant magic, performed in taverns or other places with an audience and street magic. The performers would in some cases charge tickets but the association of magicians and pickpockets was also common. Besides the association with the obscure, supernatural, Magic was also keen of dissociating itself from crime. One important figure in this transition is Isaac Fawkes, who performed ‘dressed as a gentleman in respectable, quase-theatrical spaces’. (Sina Najafi and Simon During, Cabinet Magazine, issue 26).

Magic also guards a close relationship with science & technology and with the mass media & the entertainment industry, specially cinema. The first films were projected during magic shows in Africa, Asia and Australia. In London, the first person to exhibit films was David Devant, a magician who worked for the Maskelynes. (Sina Najafi and Simon During, Cabinet Magazine, issue 26) Georges Méliès, one of the pioneers in special effects in cinema, was an illusionist and filmmaker.

Around 1750, magicians started using electricity in the shows. ‘Magic becomes technologized, capitalized and hyped’, giving birth to modern show business. (Sina Najafi and Simon During, Cabinet Magazine, issue 26).

One of the most ancient performances is the 'Cup and Balls'. It has been performed for the last 2000 years. It is still considered such a relevant trick that many consider that mastering it is essential for someone to be called a magician.

Penn and Teller cups and balls

Abracadabra

The etymology of this word is uncertain but it may derive from Aramaic. Abracadabra is used as a magic word. The first mention of it was in a Medical book from century 3AD, where the word was displayed in the form of a triangle and was used as an amulet against malaria.

A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R - A
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B - R
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A - B
A - B - R - A - C - A - D - A
A - B - R - A - C - A - D
A - B - R - A - C - A
A - B - R - A - C
A - B - R - A
A - B - R
A - B
A

There are also connections between the word and the ability to write. It could have been used as a way to remember the alphabet, as 'it becomes more pronounceable and easier to remember by adding repetitive vowel "a" or "ra" sounds where there are none and adding an alliteration "bra" at the end'. (Wikipedia)

Magic Organizations

Worldwide there are many organizations that aim to keep the art of magic alive – and secret. The oldest one is The Society of American Magicians, founded in New York in 1902. A few years later (1905), the Magic Circle is founded in London. Both associations are still active. For a more complete list of this kind of organizations, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Magic_organizations.

Magic and Strategy

Magic also performs an important role in military strategy. Deception techniques have been used for military purposes more frequently than one would imagine at first thought.

Even though there are no evidences that the Trojan Horse actually happened, the idea behind it is a clear example of military action based on deception techniques.

the Trojan Horse

In 1856, religious leaders in Algeria were performing miracles which were helping raise the idea of a rebellion against French colonialists. Napoleon then brought French magician Robert Houdin who performed tricks that were more impressive than the ones performed by the religious leaders, gaining influence over the rebels and dissipating the religious leader’s power.

Robert Houdin avoided a rebellion in Algeria, for Napoleon

During WWII, Jasper Maskelyne helped the British army in several actions, the largest one being the supposed disappearance of the Suez Canal to mislead German bombers. He worked with 14 assistants, including an architect, art restorer, carpenter, chemist, electrical engineer, electrician, painter, and stage-set builder, a group whose nickname was the "Magic Gang". "He built a mockup of the night-lights of Alexandria in a bay three miles away with fake buildings, lighthouse, and anti-aircraft batteries. To mask the Suez Canal, he built a revolving cone of mirrors that created a wheel of spinning light nine miles wide, meant to dazzle and disorient enemy pilots so that heir bombs would fall off-target." (http://www.magictricks.com/war-magician.html) Even though the accuracy of this achievement is controversial, there is no doubt that magicians are skilled in the art of deception. Therefore, it is not uncommon that magicians and illusionists work for or give advice for governments, armies and intelligence services.

Jasper Maskelyne, 'The War Magician'

Barton Whaley has studied the relationship between war and the tactics and methods of the magician. In his publication ‘Detecting Deception: A Bibliography of Counterdeception Across Time, Cultures and Discipline' (2006, Foreign Denial & Deception Committee Washington, DC), he clearly defines deception and dissects the differences between existing categories of deception.

“I define deception as any attempt—by words or actions—intended to distort another person's or group's perception of reality. And to keep matters simple, a lie is any statement made with the intent to deceive. These definitions avoid confusion with mere misinformation, incomplete information, or the truth value of statements. But they do permit us to include the authorized lies and deceptions practiced with our knowledge and approval by stage actors, magicians, and poker players. Moreover, this definition gets around the worrisome problem of self-deception. Instead, for our present purpose, the target of a deception is not oneself but always another's mind.”(Whaley, Detecting Deception, p.7)

in Detecting Deception, A Bibliography of Counterdeception Across Time, Cultures and Discipline, B. Whaley, 2006

‘Some Operational Uses of the Art of Deception’, written in 1954 by John Mulholland, a magician who worked for the CIA, was intended to teach the readers how ‘to perform in a variety of acts secretly and undetectably’. (Jonathan Allen, Cabinet Magazine, issue 26)

Bibliography

[...]

Graduation Proposal

-> FINAL Graduation Project Proposal

Draft #5

Research

In the context of human-computer interaction, there is a currently a trend to rename the components of this interaction - the user, the computer and the interface: 'people' should replace 'users' and 'the best interface is no interface'. What are the motivations and consequences of such a shift in the terminology in regards to the visibility of technology?

Project

The research will equip me not only with arguments [for what- in a phrase] but it will also point to the best approaches the project should embrace. The final form of the project cannot be defined at this point, but the following mockups indicate the research undertaken thus far and explores possible formats.

1. wakeuptcha
A captcha widget that aims to call the user’s attention by presenting a combination of meaningful words, instead of random distorted letters.

A variation would be to present some background information regarding a selection of topics and then ask a question. Example below:

2. one way

A physical + sensor monitored installation space where details in design (both physical and in the program connected to the sensors) will determine the way users will experience it. The installation would be 'simple': for example, the goal could be to design a small space/system where the entrance door can only be used to get in, and the exit door only to get out.
That could be done by:
- not providing the door handles in the inside of the entrance door/outside of the exit door.
- not allowing the entrance door to be opened by someone outside while there is someone still inside (by checking if the exit door has been opened, for example).

3. iFood
Fictitious product + advertisement (video trailer, for example)
iFood, a microwave oven smart cooking device. You don’t have to bother reading recipes, buying vegetables at the supermarket nor even spending time preparing your own food. iFood allows you to spend time on things that really matter in your life.

iFood works in combination with iSoup, a delicious set of carefully designed soups.

How it works: position the iSoup cover in front of the iEye to be scanned. That will open iFood’s door. The cover contains all information that iFood needs to prepare your meal and that information is sent when you scan the cover. Disclaimer: iFood requires that you use iSoup.

Because there is 'no interface' (better said, there are no control buttons), all the cooking settings will be defined by the information scanned from the soup package. Even to simply open the door you need the iSoup package. Thought of keeping an old package just to open the door? Forget about it, you still won't be able to use the device as an usual microwave, as the cooking program (time and power level) is set through the package scan.

Given the fact that this kind of advertising only promotes the positive aspects of the product, I would need to find a way to inform the downsides of using such a device. The fact that it would only work with iSoup and that it would not work with fresh ingredients nor with 'samSoup' has to be reinforced somehow. One possible format for this counter-information could be through the use of subtitles in the advertising video. The audio would present the positive features of the device, as usual, and the subtitles would be in charge of informing the downsides described above.

4. Free Association Index - voice interface
I am also interested in developing further this project that I started working on last year. It consists of a subjective index of interrelated words. Besides improving the existing index, it can be interesting/relevant to investigate the effect of a voice interface in the project's use, content and intelligibility, in comparison to the original interface.
The project in its original version can be found here:
http://headroom.pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/~ldossin/free-association-index/

There is a mockup here: http://headroom.pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/~ldossin/fai-voice (An updated version of Chrome and a microphone are needed.)
In case the mockup above cannot be used, the video below can illustrate the idea.

If you use Safari, click here

File:Fai-mockup.ogv

5. User Interviews
Another possible format would be realizing tests and/or interviews with users on the topic 'interface'. The outcome in this case could be a short documentary.

Context

“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.’”
Don Norman, 2008 – UXWeek [1]

“The best interface is no interface.”
Golden Krishna, 2013 – SXSW [2]

In the last decade, the vocabulary that addresses human-computer interaction has been changing, specially among designers. As the quotes above state, 'users' should give place to 'people' and 'interface' should better just simply disappear. In a similar fashion, a computer is now refered to as a device. There is, in the new terminology trend, a clear intention to consolidate the idea of invisible technology.

This iPad trailer puts that idea into words (and image and sound), right in the first 30 seconds: 'We believe technology is at its very best when it's invisible. When you're conscious only of what you're doing, not the device you're doing it with. And iPad is the perfect expression of that idea. It's just this magical pane of glass that can become anything you want it to be.'

The change in the vocabulary reflects not so much the verification of a fact (users are people, in this case) as it reflects a design choice (we want users to be defined as people). As in any design choice, there are reasons underneath it. The alleged reasons for adopting this new vocabulary are at first sight humanistic: user is seen as a degrading term because it reduces the ambiguous and complex event of being human. Designers should be designing for people, not for users.

The shift from interface requires a bit more of context. Common sense tends to consider interface literally as the graphic component (icons, layout, text) of the interaction between human and computer. But an interface is actually the point of contact between human and computer, not the format in which this contact is made. There are command line interfaces, text-based interfaces, graphical interfaces, voice interfaces and so on.

That said, it is a puzzle to understand the meaning of a statement like 'the best interface is no interface'.(http://www.cooper.com/journal/2012/08/the-best-interface-is-no-interface.html) As we have just seen, an interface is a point of contact between two elements in the interaction. So, no interface would mean no interaction.

Golden Krishna showcases an example where a graphical interface of an app requires the user to go through 13 steps before having the task done. He then compares the same task being accomplished through the use of a sensor and a smart device, easily done in one step, without requiring any action from the user except to be physically inside the range of the sensor field while carrying the smart device. I do not defend the idea that a graphical interface can provide the solution to every problem. But nor do I agree that the best interface is no interface. In the case of the ex-user and the no-interface, it is clear that the computer - or rather technology - is becoming more and more invisible. There is an emphasis on this invisibility, it seems to be an ideal to pursue.

This invisibility is being sold to us as the way to optimize our time, to allow us to be more productive and more creative. While I am not at all defending that we should use computers that don't work, I do believe that being confronted with problems to solve does help a user understand better the computer s/he uses not only in a technological level, but also understand the material, social, legal conditions under which technology operates. We live in a world where computers are everywhere - ignoring technology and considering it to be something that keeps staying in our way sounds like a weird and out-of-place mantra to sing.

I believe the motivations for the shift in terminology derive from a market strategy (a result of large scale penetration of personal computers, smartphones and alike into the market, as a way of making computers easier for consumers to use) rather than from a legitimate concern regarding the depth of the human experience and life quality standards. Actually, it's very well possible that the depth of the experience is becoming more and more flat instead. But that is perhaps beyond the scope of this proposal.

Let's try to see the terminology issue in another context: students are people – and so are teachers. By calling students 'students', instead of people, we are not degrading them as human beings - we are indicating their role in a school, defining their position in the relationship. By erasing this differentiation, the possibility of addressing the relationship is erased too. Erasing the possibility to address a relationship does not – by any means - make this relationship better. In reality, it removes any possibility to transform it whenever needed. 'By removing our knowledge of the glue that holds the systems that make up the infrastructure together, it becomes much more difficult, if not impossible, to begin to understand how we are constructed as subjects, what types of systems are brought into place (legal, technical, social, etc.) and where the possibilities for transformation exist.' (Matt Ratto, 2007 - Ethics of Seamless infrastructures http://www.i-r-i-e.net/inhalt/008/008_4.pdf)

This question is too important to be left for designers, cognitive psychology specialists, marketing gurus, software developers and giant tech companies to decide alone. Nor should the user's agreement be equivalent to a click on a button without actual knowledge over what this is all about. This topic needs more visibility, clear definitions and debate.

Previous Works

Last year I have been working on projects which aim to put user passiveness, unawareness and consumerism in the spotlight, by sometimes unveiling the structure running behind the surface, other times by disguising the critique into something digestible and fun to play with.

Let Me Think Let me think is a browser plug-in that interferes in the online shopping experience at Amazon by canceling the 'buy in one click' feature. By adding time to the shopping cycle, I'm trying to break this automatic, almost unconscious behavior that web shops wants us to engage with. Just clicking on things and buying without reflecting on what we're doing. It has to be downloaded and installed, which means it requires that the user performs some action to make it happen.

This project is an attempt to reflect on the interface's impact on user behaviour, by changing the carefully designed page functionality.

Free Association Index The Free Association Index. The index in this case is a set of subjective relationships among words, accessible through a Google-like interface. By using a well-known interface, on one hand the project is easy to grasp – in terms of the expected user interaction – and on the other hand it proposes a different context for using the content. By doing that, the project's intention is to rise questions about how the content was gathered and about the legitimacy of the results.

Print Cake Print Cake is an on-demand print shop installation/performance where visitors can buy cupcakes decorated with a snippet of William Morris' News from Nowhere printed on edible paper and edible ink. There are two kinds of cupcakes: the standard and the customized. The former costs less than the latter. In the customized version, customers choose a color and a word, through a simple and easy to use graphical interface (a three-step process). The word generates a snippet of text (taken from News from Nowhere). This text is placed onto a designed template and in combination with the chosen color is printed on edible paper and placed on top of the cupcake. In the standard version no choices are possible – they all have the same color and just a few variations on the text snippets.

In this project, part of the creative process was apparently transferred to the user. But in fact, the whole project structure was designed in a way that would allow users to only choose from a quite limited range of choices and by following a very specific and short sequence of steps. This structure was grounded on very concrete issues, such as how to make the project possible/viable while interesting/entertaining to the users and conveying common meaning with the rest of exhibition.

Work Survey

The selected works vary imensely in format but they all share a wish to make invisible structures visible somehow.

Immaterials: Light painting WiFi
Timo Arnall
WiFi signal strength on the streets made visible through a moving led 'ruler', registered in long exposure photos.
Why it relates: visibility of infrastructure.
http://vimeo.com/20412632

Immaterials: the ghost in the field
Timo Arnall, Jack Schulze & Einar Sneve Martinussen
'A photographic mapping of the readable volume of a radio field from an RFID reader'.([3])
Why it relates: materiality of an invisible field.
http://vimeo.com/7022707

BumpList, an Email community for the Determined!
Jonah Brucker-Cohen
A mailing list where only 6 members are allowed. Every new subscriber bumps one member from the list. In order to keep participating in the list, interested ones have to continuously subscribe to it.
Why it relates: opposes to the idea of infinite, brings the idea of choice to the discussion (why limit the number, why 6?)
http://www.coin-operated.com/2010/05/13/bumplist-an-email-community-for-the-determined-2003/

Superglue
Danja Vasiliev, Joscha Jaeger, Michael Zeder
A toolkit (browser plugin plus personal server) that aims to make it possible for users to make their website easily and host the websites at home
Why it relates: interesting attempt to give the user some independence without necessarily demanding too much technical knowledge, brings the subject of making and hosting websites to discussion.
http://www.superglue.it

Revealing Errors – Website
Benjamin Mako Hill
A website that displays manifestations of computer errors and human errors resulting from ignorance towards computers.
Why it relates: refers the subject of technology that is only visible when it does not work and also how important it is to be able to think and understand the structure running underneath (if for nothing else, at least to avoid silly mistakes).
http://revealingerrors.com/

Literature Survey

Arnall T. (2013) No to no UI, http://www.elasticspace.com/2013/03/no-to-no-ui
Bolter J.D. and Gromala D. (2003) Windows and Mirrors, MIT Press
Galloway, A.R. (2012) The Interface Effect, Polity Press
Krishna G. (2012) The best interface is no interface, http://www.cooper.com/journal/2012/08/the-best-interface-is-no-interface.html
Lialina O. (2012) Turing Complete User, http://contemporary-home-computing.org/turing-complete-user/
Mansoux A. (2013) Sandbox Culture [not published yet]
Norretranders T. (1991) The User Illusion, Penguin Books
Odlyzko A. (1999) The visible problem of the invisible computer: a skeptical look at information appliances, AT&T Labs Research
Serres M. (2007) Parasite, Minesota Press
Suchman L.(2007) Human-Machine Reconfigurations, Cambridge University Press
van den Bosch Christensen L. (2014) I, for one, welcome our new Overlords, PZI