User:Colm/RWRM-year2-Thesis-outline0.2
Thesis outline
standing outline for Thesis Graduate Seminar deadline 2016_11_09 after 10 am meeting.
Central research question: How do visual production software technologies transfer knowledge and skills of the craft they virtualise?
Technology is typically seen as a problem-solver, and well-designed technology is supposed to follow an according aesthetic of efficiency, ease and—ultimately—automation.
To Save Everything, Click Here — Evgeny Morozov, ch 9
Introduction:
- Central research question
- What is visual production software?
- There is no visual production software that does not mimic a physical tangible action, something I believe to be a craft.
- Physical tangible actions are what visual production software virtualises.
Chapter 1:
Temp title: Defining craft
What is modern digital craft? Is it the same as old crafts with different tools and different outcomes? Is it still cultural production?
tangible material, virtual material, manpulation techniques, expertise, experts, professionnals, tools, manual tools, virtual tools, progression of craft
Chapter 2:
Temp title: Efficiency
Can we say that a well-designed technology is one that is efficient and easy? What is the criterium for well-designed visual production software? Outside of visual production software, we can say that virtualisation of certain processes has made them more efficient, is this also true for digital visual production?
Chapter 3:
Temp title: The user
Is the visual production software user automatically a craftsman? Do all users mean to attain craft, or is the software designed for a broader set of users?
the doer, the producer, the craftsman, the professional, specialisations, comforts
Chapter 4:
Temp title: multiple interfaces
In the movement enabling larger sets of users to produce visuals digitally, what happens when the software is declined to function on other types of interfaces and devices? Firstly tablets and phones, but also web apps.
coming full circle, Apple Pencil, Adobe rulers, even the place where the computer tool runs becomes blurry. The cloud. Solutions to file handeling.
My intention is to provide context to better understand certain contemporary movement in digital services that seem to focus on efficiency. This risks the further diminishing the cultural relevance and importance of digital practices and crafts, blurring all the lines between service and production.
The initial notions from the first paragraphs will all be explained in individual chapters to lay the ground for the thesis. Later, the questions posed above will come into focus, as I will attempt to look at the inputs and outputs of the two economical models. For this, the example of software will be a (the?) focus point. Digital technology has the necessary componentry to be able to inspect the models individually with examples that speak loudly to the secondary productions that I wonder about above.
Key texts
- to save everything click here — Evgeny Morozov
- La société automatique: Tome 1, L'avenir du travail — Bernard Stiegler
- Adverserial Design - Carl DiSalvo
- Chantal Mouffe
- Terry Winograd & Fernando Flores — Understanding Computers and Cognition