Print {"Hello World"}
A Primer on Software for Artists and Artists Software
Richard Wright, March 2002.
"Hello World" has traditionally been the first program you write when you learn a new programming language. Itís as though the programmer is uttering their first words in a newly born world of possibilities.
The "Hello World" project is an attempt to make the cultural analysis of computer systems and software more accessible. What I hope to do is to produce a document and a series of related activities that open up this general topic. The motivation behind this is to show that the way a computer is used depends on how people see it including its appearance and the user experience, the values that underlie the way it is meant to be used, how it gives form to a practice and the environment in which it is deployed. These are specifically cultural factors that combine to position the user within a matrix of meanings and so influence their perception of what a computer system can do. This is in contrast to its quantifiable technical abilities and to its role as an explicit instrument of social or economic policy. This is also in contrast to Human Computer Interface research which tries to find ways to design "better software" (which begs the whole question). The emphasis here is on the possibilities of the user as an active agent, on creativity rather than control. It is firstly a critical project that analyses software as a textual space that constitutes cultural meaning and values and also shows how software art might extend that space and inspire a wider conceptualisation of what software can do. Artists are not trying to change the world, but they can make people realise that it could be different.
This project might be compared to John Bergerís "Ways of Seeing" series
from the 1970s which challenged peoples assumptions about the art history
that they had come to take for granted, and was also aimed at a non-expert
audience. Today everyone uses software, but many pressures make it difficult
to step out of the loop and question the way it works lack of technical
knowledge, acceptance of the familiar, powerlessness in the face of progress.
This project might be thought of as a "Ways of Interfacing" project, if
"interfacing" is thought of as the way in which people grasp the potentialities
of computers, rather than choosing the colour of your desktop.
Overall Aims
The pilot CD that was produced last year concentrated on the analysis of two digital postproduction systems Adobe After Effects and Quantel, chosen because their designs were very different despite similarities in their technical functionality. This study was aimed at art and design research students. One advantage of studying art and design practice is that it involves the computerisation of a wide range of manual and intellectual skills, providing a richer source of examples. Another advantage is that it is an area that often privileges creativity and so provides a convenient field in which to examine the relation between software design and cultural change. I intend to keep to that approach, although the intention is that the new project be accessible outside academic disciplines.
I will try to reduce things down to four main areas:
1. The Computerís Image of Itself. This first section concentrates on
the users experience at the interface level. When people use a computer
they use what they can see. They tend to adopt the most obvious and apparently
easiest methods in the absence of any known alternatives. If they have
never used a different system they may not be aware of how the computer
has shaped their practice. For example, why are computer workstations designed
for only one person? If you want to work with someone else you have to
"network", but computers could be designed for "collaboration", that can
accommodate more than one user at a time (a computer with two mice).
2. Technology is a practice. This section is concerned with the computerís
cultural impact through the way it introduces new ways of working. The
way the computer can do things is more important than what it can do because
the way it works is what people learn and internalise. We look at bottom-up
and top-down system design, the integration of factors like manual skills
and models of the creative process that are assumed by software designers.
Most software applications nowadays tend to assume top down functionality
a wide range of high level features that pre-empt most common tasks.
Despite this fact the same systems can often be used for completely unorthodox
purposes if you know how. But why canít we have both? Can the unexpected
be designed in?
3. Software Art. A lot of digital artwork now is software based art.
Sometimes the role of the software is just instrumental, to control some
device or record some data, but sometimes it has such a central role that
it is more like software art, in which artistic content can be expressed
through the operation of computer codes, logical relations and data structures.
More recently some software art actually enables the users creativity,
like software applications art, their content residing in the domain of
their agency. In what way can programming be termed a creative practice?
Is there an aesthetic of coding? Is hacking a useful model?
4. Free software and Open Source movements concentrate on changing
the social and economic structures of software design and distribution,
but without a grasp of the cultural parameters in which it is produced
their programmes end up looking like rip offs of Microsoft. Social innovation
is not cultural innovation and this section emphasises why cultural input
that works at the level of sensations, values and ideas is important. Software
is very expensive to develop so unless something has obvious commercial
potential the only way that some useful or thought provoking things could
get produced might be by hackers, open source communities or as artists
projects.
Approach
A period of research will be necessary that will mainly involve finding the most concrete and accessible examples to illustrate the points being made. Doing another full comparative study on the scale of the pilot CD is beyond the resources of this project, but the original material can be re-edited, reused in new contexts and presented more informatively. It might be possible to include smaller scale studies such as comparisons between vector based and bit mapped systems, using packages like Illustrator and Photoshop, Flash and Discrete Paint. Artists could be interviewed on the development of their software based patterns of work, operational and exploratory procedures and skills. I should also trace the design history of each system, perhaps by interviewing those that worked on its development, but this might be a bit too much.
A big issue will be how the subtle qualities of the user experience can be described and communicated in a suitable format. To address this, the original pilot research involved documenting work sessions on video which were then annotated in real time. This original material could be reworked by adding important contextualising material such as the artists gestures and postures, their working environment and the way they relate to collaborators or clients where relevant.
The University of Western Sydney would like to extend this research
project in some form, so weíll see what pans out there. It is worth involving
people like Rory Hamilton and his Computer Related Design course at the
RCA, although they work in a more problem solving HCI context. London Guildhall
University are keen to do more research and could provide some useful facilities.
The Software Summer School held in 2000 should have lots of useful material
in its archives.
Format and Distribution of Works and Documents
The final presentation of this primer will be strongly audio visually based. A CD-ROM can hold about two hours of video documentary material as well as various interactive diagrams and animated graphics. CDs could be distributed on magazine covers or given away at events or through an organisation like The Society for Old and New Media in Amsterdam, though they are still a format that carries with it the liabilities of physically shifting objects.
An online format could overcome many of the physical distribution problems, but a web site will need quite high resolution graphics to adequately illustrate the design of interfaces, etc. The video footage would also need to be quite high resolution so video streaming over a phone line would be unsuitable. Another alternative might be a produce a straightforward video documentary and distribute it on CD, DVD or plain old VHS.
Some documentary video production will be involved at any rate and there
are several collaborators who could help. Like my sister Carole Wright
for instance. And for multimedia authoring what about the Safety Cats?
Public Activities
1. Retro Software Workshop. To gather together some very early versions
of familiar (and maybe some not so familiar) software packages. So far
I have copies of MacDraw, MacPaint, Director 2.0, Photoshop 1.0, Autodesk
Animator and others from the late eighties. I could base a historical analysis
around these and a one day production workshop. This sort of thing might
best function in an explicitly educational context however.
2. Hacking software exercises that donít involve programming skills.
To change an applications function by changing its image or over customising
its interface changing the names of or deleting commands, operating
it entirely via user defined keystrokes and/or macros, changing sizes of
toolbars and icons, changing templates, etc. Then save and distribute libraries
of bizarre customisations.
3. Produce a Teacherís Pack on how to analyse software for humanities
type studies. "Full of games to play that make learning fun". Practical
and imaginary software projects to build (geeky Blue Peter). E.g. design
a single piece of software to do everything, or a computer with an interface
made entirely out of cheese.
A Budget
Multimedia Authoring, 2 wks @ £100/dy £ 2,000.00
Video production
Shooting, 1 wk £ 500.00
Editing, 1 wk £ 500.00
Web Server rent, 2yrs @ £35 mnth £ 350.00
CD pressing, 500 copies £ 580.00
CD magazine covers £
60.00
Workshop expenses £ 500.00
Design £ 150.00
Print £ 150.00
Mailing £
75.00
telephone £ 100.00
email and internet connection £
35.00
postage £
20.00
________
Total £ 5,020.00