when i first read this i felt very seen because the week before i was thinking about how to create a website in a way that felt like you were moving through a window or a puddle, some reflective surface. i was thinking about alice in wonderland. but i had to stop because my hopes and dreams for a website were limited by my skills. i agreed and strongly resonsated with the idea that we need individuals now more than ever, i love the idea of a real interconnected web that is alive and breathing and supported by the existence of real people. this reading made me remember the feeling of making a website to be my own world and extension of myself and i love that feeling. the best thing this reading left me with was the sense of agency that comes with designing and the freedom of creation having no rules.
"A boat? A cloud? A garden? A puddle?"
link to the readingthe first time i read this was in Mariah's class, it was nice to read again, i appreciate the clarification that technology is a nebulous term and that it is not synonymous with hi-tech like it's often thought of. it doesn't matter if she writes "soft" sci-fi, i think that the creation of this sci-fi dvision is rooted in something exclusive and even sexist but that's not something i can think about right now i bet it would make me upset. anyways in relation to web design i connect the bones of the site to the code that makes the site function and the visual appeal to soft tech like fire. ALSO i loved tales from earthsea and it clicked that cat ged was ged after this assigned reading haha
"Technology is the active human interface with the material world."
link to the readingi really enjoyed the simplicity of this website. i also thought it was funny that at the top of the page there is an option to read it in Korean (though the link was broken), that felt a little random after i googled J.R. Carpenter and saw that they were British. i liked the fishes and flying things mini para-site, (is para-site a play on words on purpose?) and the overall mysterious vibe of this seemingly simple site that holds so much hidden treasure. while there are a lot of interesting resources to be found in this page, i feel like i am not able to fully digest it all yet and so i will come back to this page once i have learned more about web design so that i may reach a more complete perspective.
"I evoke the term 'handmade web' to suggest slowness and smallness as a forms of resistance."
link to the readingi had to do a project on the old web last year and this reminded me of all these cool personalized websites that people made then, (i found a ton of cool material, i should revisit it for inspo). i agree that these days things are built for tracking and profiting, that's why i appreciate free information sources like wikipedia, and i feel bad that they are dying out. there are some awesome free libraries online though, i don't think i take advantage of them enough. it is incredible to have so much information these days. i do not like that i have become a manipulable data point like Satyal says but it is true. i should install some ad blockers, the thing i appreciated the most about this reading was the helpful guide at the bottom of the page to make the web more user-friendly!
"The major websites of today's web are not built for the visitor, but as means of using her."
link to the readingincredibly overstimulating and anxiety-inducing! though i had a lot of thoughts about this during the discussion, i don't recall everything in a well-articulated manner. so i'm just going to stream my thoughts: expecting, owed my attention, attention as currency, status, three typing dots, proprietary ecosystem, corporation, shopping, scrolling, infinite scrolling, reels as slots, dopamine addiction, enshittification, dark patterns, exploitation, algorithms, data points, manipulation.
in this age of information overload, what is most precious is the choice of enlightenment and the option to step away. the idea that the landline telephone used to be a violation feels laughable. to make not only your home but your brain and life porous is frightening. i need to get off reels!!!
"If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold."
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