Dear Felienne!

I had promised you a shorter homework for this week, and I think I did it: it’s a tiny little bit shorter (based on my own estimate). But also, it isn’t really exactly the homework you suggested. I did something else instead. I guess I went off course… but in some way, I hope that’s the point. So what did I do?

What the Stair Climber, Slack, Ellipticals, and Emails Have in Common

As a first step, I reflected on how I see the computer. In our episode, we discussed that Brenda Laurel sees it as a theatre. I see it more as a gym. That’s because I find working with the computer super exhausting. But there are a few more parallels I want to draw. For instance, think about all these emails that come in and that need to be answered. This is really like the stair climber in the fitness centre, where the stairs just keep coming and coming… an endless flow of stairs, similar to the endless flow of emails. There is no destination we will reach, but they keep us feeling busy and productive.

Then there’s Microsoft Teams, where we have all these online group meetings during which everyone is dying on the inside (at least I assume everyone else feels this way, too?). To me, that’s just like a spinning class. So again, you spend all this energy and effort, but in the end, you really don’t get anywhere. You’re still in the same room, even though on the big screen everyone stares at, it seems like you’re moving forward. And this is, of course, what these online group meetings often do. You spend a lot of energy and get nowhere, but on the shared screen, it still seems as if you’re covering some distance or solving real problems.

There are also applications like Slack and Metamost that are meant for communication and collaboration. I love using those tools and the nice dopamine kicks that a thumbs up on these platforms provides. Yet, I feel like hanging out on these platforms is a bit like using an elliptical in the gym while you’re on the phone with your best friend or reading a magazine. If you were honest with yourself, you’d realise that you’re just pretending to work out. That’s procrastination at its best: it leaves you guilt-free, or even feeling proud. Computers are just so great for that!

And finally, computers always have these processes running in the background. And this is really like the music and the gym that’s just always there and running in the background. And sometimes you notice it, but there’s not really much you can do about it… But somehow it is still interwoven with what you do and how you move. I am sure there are plenty of computer processes running in the background that affect me without me being aware of this.

The Missing Option: Interfaces for Human-Human Interaction

I also thought about the multiple-choice question you asked me during our podcast episode. To remind our readers, you asked me, “What is being represented by a human-computer interface?” And you gave me those four options from Brenda Laurel’s book:

  1. A way for a person to communicate with a computer.
  2. A way for a computer to communicate with a person.
  3. A surface through which humans and computers can communicate.
  4. A way for humans and computers to construct actions together.

I really hate multiple-choice questions. I always think of something that is not captured by the provided options. And when I think about my own relation to computers, I really miss a fifth option here, too. That’s because I use the computer mostly as an interface to communicate with other humans. Answering emails in Thunderbird, writing collaborative scientific papers on Overleaf, playing a game against another person, putting podcasts online, reading the documents my students send me, or posting on LinkedIn: it’s all a way to connect with others, a way to co-create materials, a way to exchange human attention and ideas. In such cases, I believe the computer fades into the background!

So, to answer the question: a human-computer interface is also a surface through which humans communicate with other humans. It’s a means for humans and other humans, remote humans, to construct actions together. While it is not one of Laurel’s answers, it still somewhat fits her theatre theme, where actors interact with each other on stage. I don’t think this contradicts her work at all, but it places more emphasis on the various humans involved.

Slaying Metaphorical Dragons

In our episode, we have touched upon Laurel’s idea of a shared performance between a user, or as Brenda Laurel would say, an interactor and a computer. This resonated with me because it is something I can relate to, for instance, when using my to-do app. Whenever I add a to-do to my to-do app, I feel like there’s a problem to solve. And then I get to be the hero who solves that problem with the computer. Typically, I need to open all kinds of computer programs, and with those applications, I have to slay many, many metaphorical dragons. But then, when I’m done, I can put this little checkmark next to the task, and there’s a sense of relief, and sometimes I’m even a bit proud. It comes with a feeling of closure that I also really get from good stories. So, in that sense, I think my to-do app is great. Completing tasks with a computer has this whole drama and performance built in. Just now, for instance, I used my favourite markdown editor to complete this homework assignment, and I am already looking forward to marking the “podcast homework” task with a little checkmark in my to-do app. It will feel great :)

Cheers,

Hanna