Critical Interface Manifesto
Tenet #4: “The interface collects traces: traces and remains of all agents/agencies which converge in it”
Provided propositions:
• “Swap computers with your partner for a week. Swap computers with a stranger for a day.”
• “Avoid synchronizing your devices…or you will be hunted and tracked down.”
• “Use your first Nokia 3210 phone again (try not to get too nostalgic about it).”
• “Become an Open Data Donor. Only give data deliberately and make sure it stays Open.”
I chose this tenet because it is so blatantly obvious, yet I don’t think we as a society stop and realize it/really care enough to think about. We are so connected to our devices that they have basically become a digital copy of ourselves and our identity. If you only see the interface without the user, you (as a third-party observer) can still reveal personality traits, identity characteristics of the user, and the other agents that have come across the interface. Through people’s applications, messages, personal photos, etc. – people’s traces and information are stored into the interface and has given that interface a collection of your identity. An example of this I think is really just our daily lives nowadays. I doubt the majority of us can live without our phones/computers for one day (me included). Our technology has become so significant in our lives to make us feel included into society, and we’ve lost touch with reality and society in a sense since we’ve depended on our devices for so long (i.e. not memorizing our address book and contact numbers, needing a GPS to move around a city instead of memorizing a city’s map, etc.) I just find it interesting that our interfaces have almost become ourselves, but has the capability to retain more knowledge about us than we can about ourselves.