Comments on: The Micromedium and Monomedium http://www.shoutingloudly.com/2009/12/22/the-micromedium-and-monomedium/ building a healthy information ecosystem Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:41:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Paul Falzone http://www.shoutingloudly.com/2009/12/22/the-micromedium-and-monomedium/comment-page-1/#comment-57993 Paul Falzone Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:38:21 +0000 http://www.shoutingloudly.com/?p=990#comment-57993 Good feedback and useful to boot. I agree that I should change the "private" to "proprietary." That better captures what I was getting at. I also agree that the proprietary micromedium does not priveledge user control, but obscures it's proprietary nature in its "seemingly" open format and rhetoric. I will mull over the rest, though I think the iPhone is just the first real taste of the emerging monomedium, not its zenith. The real frontier is in the as yet unexplored realm of wetware, but I didn't want to go all cyberpunk-ey right away. Futurism is a tricky game to play. Good feedback and useful to boot. I agree that I should change the “private” to “proprietary.” That better captures what I was getting at. I also agree that the proprietary micromedium does not priveledge user control, but obscures it’s proprietary nature in its “seemingly” open format and rhetoric. I will mull over the rest, though I think the iPhone is just the first real taste of the emerging monomedium, not its zenith. The real frontier is in the as yet unexplored realm of wetware, but I didn’t want to go all cyberpunk-ey right away. Futurism is a tricky game to play.

]]> By: Jason http://www.shoutingloudly.com/2009/12/22/the-micromedium-and-monomedium/comment-page-1/#comment-57721 Jason Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:24:45 +0000 http://www.shoutingloudly.com/?p=990#comment-57721 This is interesting. I might suggest some prodding at the notion of "private" in this context, though, and not just because it has connotations of "personal and secret" that are already <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10413317-250.html" rel="nofollow">common to discussions of Facebook</a>. Facebook and Twitter have proprietary control over their interfaces such that they gave to "frame" the user experience a certain way. That doesn't mean, though, that they are without the messages from the "variety of communicators" that TV has traditionally known. You may have some limited control over which ads you are shown on Facebook, but there are still ads on every page. It's interesting to ponder how corporate users fit into this, as Facebook has created different types of pages for companies looking to promote themselves (who vie for "fans" rather than "friends") versus individuals with profiles—a distinction Twitter has not (yet?) made. Another thing that I would like to point out about the iPhone, too, is that it doesn't necessarily "cede control" as much as some other devices might. Yes, it has no physical buttons, which allows for more variation in interfaces, but Apple has strict control over which applications get released in its App Store, and has always been very protective about what makes it onto its devices, including offering specific <a href="http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/DOCUMENTATION/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/XHIGIntro.html" rel="nofollow">guidelines</a> for what is acceptable interface design. Is this the last dying gasp of the monomedium trying to assert control, or the behind-the-scenes shape of things to come? This is interesting. I might suggest some prodding at the notion of “private” in this context, though, and not just because it has connotations of “personal and secret” that are already common to discussions of Facebook.

Facebook and Twitter have proprietary control over their interfaces such that they gave to “frame” the user experience a certain way. That doesn’t mean, though, that they are without the messages from the “variety of communicators” that TV has traditionally known. You may have some limited control over which ads you are shown on Facebook, but there are still ads on every page. It’s interesting to ponder how corporate users fit into this, as Facebook has created different types of pages for companies looking to promote themselves (who vie for “fans” rather than “friends”) versus individuals with profiles—a distinction Twitter has not (yet?) made.

Another thing that I would like to point out about the iPhone, too, is that it doesn’t necessarily “cede control” as much as some other devices might. Yes, it has no physical buttons, which allows for more variation in interfaces, but Apple has strict control over which applications get released in its App Store, and has always been very protective about what makes it onto its devices, including offering specific guidelines for what is acceptable interface design. Is this the last dying gasp of the monomedium trying to assert control, or the behind-the-scenes shape of things to come?

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