Blog Post 9: Interface and Elit

Interface is the vehicle that structures how readers and users will interact with content. The way a set of digital information is structured is what makes up the interface. It was interesting reading about the most used interfaces in modern day, like the GUI and TUI. GUI for computers uses icons to represent the work they do. For example, the “trash” icon gives the allusion of “throwing away” a file when really, they are just pressing a “binary code” (173).  The TUI or “Tactile User Interface” is used on iPhone with the use of “touch and swipe functionality” (173). I never thought about the way our computers and phones are designed in the context of usability and interface. Furthermore, Interface has two distinguished groups in the design community: User interface (UI) and User experience (UX). User interface thinks about the design, whereas user experience thinks about the usability.

Electronic literature makes use of the interface to drive the narrative. The way an interface is designed "constructs the narrative" (182). For example, a story can be made chronological or nonlinear through how the interface is constructed. Hyperlinking, for example, creates "non-linear site design" and encourages "branching and networked structures" (186).

An example of electronic literature is "“My Body, a Wunderkammer” by Shelley Jackson. Jackson uses interface design to construct a non-linear narrative through the use of hypertext. She uses her body and its parts to write about her identity through her relationship with her body, and anecdotes about using that part of her body. I think it is unique how she uses the medium of hypertext to create her message, just like how she uses her body to push the narrative. The nonlinear structure allows users to get lost in her work and follow along at their own pace and interest.

Another example is "Depression Quest" by Zoe Quinn. This also makes use of hypertext but in the way of a choose your own adventure type of interaction. Quinn has the reader become part of the author by deciding between 3-4 options of what would you do scenarios. This piece is interesting because you can go through it countless times and get different stories.