you think you’re using your smartphone — but it also uses you - touch screen whiteboard

You touch your phone 2,617 times a day.
If you're a heavy user, that's more.
18,000 times a week.
Nearly 1 million times a year
Enough, all those that slide, tap, drag, tap, and detail feel hard --
Wired and completely natural.
Of course, these are not the things we interact with touch screens: they are deliberately planned, users-
Tested and designed for specific purposes by a person with selfserving goals.
Ben Grosser, an artist whose work questioned power and technology, thinks we should pay more attention to both.
Last week, Grosser released the first of a series of three videos that will look at how we interact with the touch screen and how these interactions perform on modern TV and movies.
The first one is the super clip of Netflix's House of Cards, which is already very good --
Known for its description of technology.
Looking at it, you will feel that the phone, laptop and tablet of the character are far more than tools --
They are caressed and protected like amulets, and they seem to have their own inherent strength.
Or, as Apple wrote in its interface guide for app developers: "People interact with iOS devices by performing gestures on touch screens.
These gestures cause close personal contact between the device and the user.
We interviewed Grosser and asked him more about the strange tactile relationship between people and the phone and how it was played on the screen.
This Q & A has been edited for process and clarity.
What's your first interest in the concept of touch interfaces and the way we interact with them (
. . . . . . Or they interact with us, depending on the situation)?
Gross: some time a few years ago, I started to become self
Realize how subtle my own operation of the trackpad and touch screen has become.
With all the gesture support that these interfaces now support, my hands seem to be dancing with the computer.
In fact, in the study of this project (
Before I knew it would cause this super cut)
, I shot my own hand video for a long time with the trackpad on my laptop so I can study it.
I was surprised that the movements were so soft and intimate.
This made me ask some questions about how and why my hands moved these ways, focusing on who or what was directing these movements.
In other words, how does the design of the software change, not just how we move, but when and why?
Who is the benefit of this direct movement?
Can you elaborate on that?
You seem to suggest that certain touch interfaces encourage certain types of behavior or emotions --
What kind of behavior?
What's the difference?
Let's start with the material properties of many touches.
Base interface: smooth flat glass.
I don't know about you, but when I come across a surface like this, I feel physically stressed and have to gently touch it with my fingers to measure exactly how smooth it is.
This slight touch initiates the relationship between the user and the device, arguably setting the default interaction to be careful and deliberate.
In addition to glass, there is a software interface.
We touch a button to activate a feature or swipe our fingers to scroll through the text.
In other words, we drive software with our fingers.
But just like we use our fingers to guide the software, the software will guide us back.
The software determines whether we slide or tap, drag or hold.
The software creates conditions for the combination of these operations, so moving files from one folder to another on my laptop becomes a sliding, clicking, slow two steps
Drag your finger, double
Tap, hold, drag, and tap again.
Of course, this little dance is very practical, but it is also a well-choreographed action, and I have learned a lot, so I have never thought about it that way.
There are several factors that affect the differences in these actions on different devices.
The size of the device is large, and the "back" swipe on a small phone may be very different from similar actions on a large tablet.
The interface conventions may affect this, causing us to click on small clickable text or to click on a large 3D button to the fullest.
I can consciously choose the way the boycott device wants me to move (e. g.
Scroll a huge long list by cleverly flick my fingers with tiny moves)
However, through its design, the software is undoubtedly suggesting a "correct" way of moving.
You might even say that the software wants its users to move in a certain prescribed way that would feel "wrong" or misleading in violation of those regulations.
As you pointed out, these things are not considered by ordinary users at all.
We tend to forget that all of these interfaces are consciously designed and take into account specific purposes and values.
Why is it important for users to be vigilant about this fact?
Yes, while many people think that software is neutral, the software is designed by humans, so the software both reflects and projects the ideology of those who write, fund and guide the production of the software.
Mark Zuckerberg, for example, may argue that Facebook only promotes communication and contact.
However, Facebook's design decisions to quantify social interaction by calculating "likes", "sharing" and "friends" have had a huge impact on the identity people write or the "friends" they choose.
"One reason why it is important for users to think critically about the software they use is that it can not only be designed to encourage or guide a particular action or response (
For example, click on the advertisement)
However, the software may also be embedded in its unexpected biases or world views.
A classic example is that the computer vision face detection algorithm is difficult to find a face with a darker skin color. Why?
Not because programmers started creating racist algorithms, but because developers tested it on their own pale-skinned faces.
Here, the software has limited ability to see faces of various colors, reflecting the poor ability of Silicon Valley to prioritize diversity in recruitment.
To bring it back to Facebook, the site constantly quantifies social interactions by counting "likes" and friends, which shows the neo-liberal worldview of the valley --
Including friendship and conversation
Market as a measure.
Whether it is intentional or unintentional, because the software abstracts and hides a large amount of labor to create the software, the user needs to check the software through a critical lens, questioning its assumptions and the revelation it gives.
Let's talk specifically about "House of Cards" as this is a case study of your first video.
How will you describe the role of technology in that performance?
Technology plays many different roles in the House of Cards.
"Sometimes the technology is public, like when a smartphone or tablet is in the hands of an actor, helping us identify them.
Sometimes technology exists in a secondary way, for example when touching
Motion and performance of direct actors based on software interfaces.
The software itself becomes a frequent drawing element (e. g.
Monitoring of social networks or big data)
Drive action, create conflicts, or create events.
But throughout the show there are also some invisible and unmentioned techniques in the background.
What I'm talking about is that the show relies on audience tracking data to guide everything from character and plot to show appearance and sound. This approach —
Measure the interest and activities of the audience and let the audience know more about them (seem to)want —
Pioneer in television, but part of a broad trend from social media to search engines.
This led me to think about the potential conflict between the show's ubiquitous narrative of digital connectivity/technology and the monitoring of Netflix's audience data.
Can one accept another?
Or more broadly, how does the technical story of the show contribute positively to the overall narrative of Silicon Valley as a neutral technology?
As a person questioning this claim, I mean the project encourages critical observation of the role of software in contemporary culture.
One thing that makes this super cut very interesting to me is that when we watch together, so many touch interactions feel very distant and notintimate.
That's the exact opposite of what we usually think about touch screens, right?
The word "intimacy" is often associated with them.
Am I completely projecting that feeling of alienation?
As a consumer of culture/technology, what should we look at it?
I have seen examples of intimate and distant/alien contact interactions on the show.
For example, we sometimes see characters taking the time to interact, like when Jackie dramatically calls him by touching Remy's name on her phone, or when Doug looks at a picture of the woman he's obsessed with, he really touches the trackpad on his laptop.
We also see hesitation as a gesture, such as when Doug pauses before removing Rachel's contact information from Rachel's phone.
But, as you point out, most of the moves are very swift, intense, or deliberate, highlighting power, confidence, and self-confidence.
We see examples of this from many phone calls or text messages by Frank and Claire.
I think that these behaviors that express power through the interface not only portray these characters as controllable characters, but also may resonate with them at the same time (
Despite the questionable moral or motivation of these characters).
In other words, strong and clever manipulation of technology may help us to accept that while we do not see or know what or how they do, their actions are, to some extent, a must
I found this to be interesting with the overall narrative of technology and software in contemporary culture.
We should not worry about how the software is made or who it is made;
Instead, we should be amazed at what it makes us do.
There is no doubt that technology makes amazing things possible, but it is also our responsibility to look at it from a critical perspective.
Losing agency and control over our own lives to a small group of entrepreneurs and programmers is less risky.
Do you know what movies or TV shows you will do next?
I do have a list of shows that I'm considering the next Super Show, but I'm most interested in any suggestions from your readers!
What programs or movies should I consider?
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