This was going to be a lengthy, no doubt brilliant essay on the way that the "habits" of a computer are understood--whether by involuntary reaction or in language--as analogous to the "operations" of the human mind and body.
I know nothing of AI and so on; I'm talking about the mundane tasks that people can and do perform on office computers, including minutia like the small noises the hard drive makes when you're loading a very long page of text in Netscape, or the way there is a slight lag when you click onto a subsubmenu. Sometimes I begin to think of these things as the equivalent of clearing one's throat, or involuntarily tapping one's finger, or momentarily forgetting the address of a friend.
But more interestingly, or more alarmingly, I find that my body had involuntary physiological reactions to events on my computer, such that it becomes almost an extension of myself. Just now, I had been typing a large amount of information into a file, doing so a bit longer than I typically do before saving. I began to feel vaguely hungry, or thirsty, although I had a fairly large breakfast. I was all set to go to the fridge and get an apple when I discovered that my "hunger" was satisfied by simply saving the document I had been working on. It's as if the "pangs" of waiting to perform an operation on my PC had become tied in my brain to the "pangs" of needing something to eat.
There are other examples, which I don't have the time to articulate right now. I guess I find this interesting because it suggests some of the strange ways our brains adopt (more or less successfully) to new habits and environments. But I also think the idea of physiological analogues to computer operations (I hope that phrase is apt) has a kind of poetic resonance. In addition to hearing about your experiences with this kind of thing, I'd be interested to know what works of art best explore this phenomenon (at the micro-level).
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 8 May 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)
The field you want to research is called Human Computer Interfaces or HCI for short. There are small and new departments, often tied to Computer Science/Math/Comp Eng and Psych despartments. Dalhousie and University of Manitoba (or was it Regina) are the only two I can think of that have grad students specifically looking at that.
The text books on the area are pretty horrid or out of date, most of the best work seems to still be in the white paper/seminar level of development.
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 8 May 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)
For background reading try elizabeth grosz - she's quite quite in the background re HCI but she anatomises philosophy of the body and is one of the best on the block. two texts:
volatile bodies and
space, time and perversion, the former being the best fit for you. she talks a bit later in her work on the extension of the body image - which is really what you refer to here,
I find that my body had involuntary physiological reactions to events on my computer, such that it becomes almost an extension of myself. have fun.
― Clare (not entirely unhappy), Thursday, 8 May 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)
Is this in a theoretical vein? Or does she relate specific, concrete (not fanciful) examples of how people imagine and feel computer operations to be analogues to physiological functions?
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 8 May 2003 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)
Hey Mr Noodles, do you know of any other schools where research is being done in other aspects of HCI? I took an undergrad course as an introduction and I found it quite interesting.
― Elliot (Elliot), Thursday, 8 May 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)
Those two mentioned above are the ones my stipend lecturer came from. They aren't out and out departments as much as focus groups i gather, one or two tenuered.
Try googling for 'Human Computer Interfaces' and type in your favorite university name as well.
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 9 May 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)
Sorry unfinished thought. I don't have a good answer for you as its not what I was looking at for grad schools. You know how it is though, ask your comp sci profs, they'll know or whoever was teaching the course at your university will know a name or two that you look up.
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Friday, 9 May 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)
Is this in a theoretical vein? Or does she relate specific, concrete (not fanciful) examples of how people imagine and feel computer operations to be analogues to physiological functions? very theoretical - but w/ examples. i thought you may find her interesting - she'd map the theoretical underpinnings of HCI, but you'd have to join the dots a bit.
― Clare (not entirely unhappy), Friday, 9 May 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)