SCREEN READING

a gallery of (re)imagined interfaces | by bethany monea

This is a digital art installation, pedagogical tool, and thought experiment. These speculative, (re)imagined interfaces are intended to disrupt expectations and provoke reflection. They are designed not for interaction but for imagination. They are intended to help us see—and see beyond—the limits of the interfaces that mediate our everyday digital lives. We are surrounded by interfaces; they construct and facilitate every human-computer interaction. However, the development and design process of these interfaces is not neutral. It is embedded within and emerges from a particular cultural and historical trajectory that not everyone may share. Therefore, it is important to ask:

• How are interfaces differently (in)accessible to different people?
• What prior experiences are users of particular interfaces expected to have?
• How can interface designers better acknowledge and embrace the diverse experiences of diverse users?
• How is knowledge and practice shaped by the interfaces we use in workplaces, schools, and social settings?

Carry these questions with you when you encounter these and other interfaces. What ways of thinking, knowing, and being do interfaces invite into our collective experience? What potentials do they exclude from our imagination?

The gallery is open: you are invited to wander, ask questions, and be confused.