Interface Analysis

Publish something (a multimedia Medium post? a 10-tweet Twitter thread? a quick podcast episode where you compare interfaces with a partner?) that opens up and analyzes an interface of a media portal/platform that you use that isn’t Netflix (←click this or this for an example).

Start by looking at how media content is curated and organized, and consider a few of these questions in your analysis:

• How are you being addressed by the interface? As a fan? as a consumer? of what? What user actions are encouraged or normalized? Which are absent?
• How is your user experience being guided or limited in virtual space?
• What content, ads, or recommendations are being suggested for you? Dig around the internet and learn a bit about how algorithms are structuring your experience (link to or credit information you find!).
• How does what you’re observing relate to our course concepts this week? (try on some new vocabulary, cite a reading or two).

You might also check out the platform’s Terms of Service; Didn’t Read.

Refer back to Van Esler, “In Plain Sight” for an example of how you might analyze an interface. Wherever you post it on the internet, tag the work #rtvf298 and link to it in the #publishing-stream by Tuesday’s (10/12) class.