henderson reed hummel

HCIANMDG

human-computer-interface and new media discussion group

• what: We’re meeting to talk about new media and user interfaces!
• when: The first Monday of each month, from 6pm to 8pm. The SUDO calendar will be up-to-date, so double-check there on the day-of if you want extra assurance.
• where: McMenamins Barley Mill Pub

Details:

Are you interested in why and how we use computers? Do you think often about radical reshapings of the digital landscape? Love projects from MIT Media Lab and NYC ITP?

The HCIANMDG (also known as the human-computer-interface and new media discussion group) is a space for software-adjacent folks to talk about the future of computers, their interfaces, and their applications. We meet on the first Monday of each month to read papers, talk about projects, share our work, and/or grumble/wax poetic about the future of computing.

A few definitions, to start us off:

human computer interface:

• we’re using this in the broadest possible sense, far beyond just the realm of web-browsers, front-end frameworks, or GUI toolkits. Examples include: hardware interfaces, interactive art pieces, and digital fabrication tooling.

new media:

• also sometimes called “programmatic media”, this is media that exists in both computational and physical contexts, often with distinct but connected aspects.
  • this includes technologies both familiar (e.g. hyperlinked media (a very novel concept, historically speaking) and unfamiliar (the cybernetic fads of the 1950s.)
  • check out the wikipedia page on new media for another good overview..
  • See also Lev Manovich’s “New Media: A User’s Guide” (1999) for a more in-depth overview of the history/explanation of the field.

social rules

Read these before joining us.

reading:

I’ll come each week with a few questions and quotes prepared from some reading (see the list below.) There’s no obligation on the part of attendees to do any reading, but it’s encouraged and fun if you do! Consider bringing a printout of whatever you read so we can pass it around.

Some samples of relevant works that I’ve read or am planning on reading:

• Permacomputing
• How I use AI
• selections from The New Media Reader
• The Rise of the HyperPot
• Lev Manovich’s New Media: A User’s Guide
• Six Learning Barriers in End-User Programming Systems
• The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan
• Art in the Age of Machine Learning by Sofian Audry
• Malleable Software in the Age of LLMs
• Direct Manipulation vs Interface Agents
• Computer as Theatre by Brenda Laurel
• Abstracting Craft by Malcolm McCullough
• Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction
• Potluck: dynamic documents as personal software
• Actually, anything from Ink & Switch
• The Humane Representation of Thought
• The Source Digest
• Against Recognition
• Personal Machines and Portable Worlds