Reading Response 5

INTERFACE: IT MATTERS

In the two article assigned (“Eye Candy vs. Bare-Bones in UI Design” / “Menu-Driven Identities”) the importance of design and how an application or website is laid out is discussed.

I was surprised in the first article to find Steenbergen making an argument that an application or websites graphics and visuals are just as important as usability. Just from reading the article title, “Eye Candy vs. Bare-Bones”, I assumed that the article would take a jab at the visual side of building a website, and praise the importance coding. Instead he gave examples explaining how the two must work together to keep the user informed, interested and make the user WANT to use the product/service.

When reading the second article I was confused as to how the first article tied in, but a few pages in I realized the interface could define certain audiences, therefore stereotyping people into specific identities (when in reality people have multiple identities that make up who they are). In the introduction paragraph Nakamura states, “ Many proponents of cyberutopia claim that the Internet is inherently democratic and color-blind because its users can engage with it anonymously” (5).  Before reading this article I would also have agreed with this statement, however now I see how truly limited the Internet is when it comes to identity. When I enter site I would say that I go in unbiased to as who created it, however the more I think about it maybe I do. A person’s identity is built outside of the Internet, so when that user goes to create a digital space that identity is shown, basically a see-through form of anonymity and in a way what I thought was true simply is not.

My opinion on how this problem could be solved…

One big way to start creating an equal playing field on the Internet is to break the digital divide. Find ways that children of every race have an equal change to utilize the same technologies. Of course this would be a daunting task and wouldn’t even come close to solving the deep issues of racism, it would be a start!