Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency

In Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth ofTransparency, Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala argue that, contrary to Donald Norman's famousdictum, we do not always want our computers to be invisible "information appliances." They say thata computer does not feel like a toaster or a vacuum cleaner; it feels like a medium that is nowtaking its place beside other media like printing, film, radio, and television. The computer asmedium creates new forms and genres for artists and designers; Bolter and Gromala want to show whatdigital art has to offer to Web designers, education technologists, graphic artists, interfacedesigners, HCI experts, and, for that matter, anyone interested in the cultural implications of thedigital revolution.In the early 1990s, the World Wide Web began to shift from purely verbalrepresentation to an experience for the user in which form and content were thoroughly integrated.Designers brought their skills and sensibilities to the Web, as well as a belief that a message wascommunicated through interplay of words and images. Bolter and Gromala argue that invisibility ortransparency is only half the story; the goal of digital design is to establish a rhythm betweentransparency--made possible by mastery of techniques--and reflection--as the medium itself helps usunderstand our experience of it.The book examines recent works of digital art from the Art Galleryat SIGGRAPH 2000. These works, and their inclusion in an important computer conference, show thatdigital art is relevant to technologists. In fact, digital art can be considered the purest form ofexperimental design; the examples in this book show that design need not deliver information andthen erase itself from our consciousness but can engage us in an interactive experience of form andcontent.