Abstract:
The relationship between interface and content helps to formulate the user
experience. The term interface here refers to the way people access systems which
in the context of this paper, are not limited to hardware such as mouse and
keyboard, or to graphical user interfaces (GUI’s). The interface has a significant
effect on how the connection between the user and the content manifests and is
traditionally seen as mediating this connection. This paper seeks to explore this
relationship in instances where the user has a ‘thick’ relationship – meaning one
with an increased personal or subjective association - to the content. Content
(sometimes known as data) is, according to Webster's Revised Unabridged
Dictionary, “that which is contained”, in this case by a socio-technical system. In
such systems, it is the interface that allows us to access, share, manipulate,
generate or communicate with or through it. This paper explores complex
content–interface relationships by looking at interactive artworks, commonly
designed to be explicitly subjective and personal experiences. In doing so we ask
whether use in an art context can inform the development of everyday systems
where users have a personal or ‘thick’ relationship to the content, such as when
choosing search terms, generating personal content through communication tools
such as SMS and email, or when considering context aware or pervasive
computing.
