Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Marshall Herskovitz on the Web
The co-creator of web-based drama quarterlife has a little essay in Slate about his experience with the web. Is it as liberating as everyone told him when he decided to create a show that wasn't based on network TV?
Not entirely.
Our relationship to the Internet is entirely made up of our relationship to browsers and Web sites. And you know what? They suck.
They're boring, one-dimensional, and unoriginal. Who decided that all Web sites should have a top nav bar and be rectangular in layout? Who decided they should abdicate any sense of design and be white and clean and uncluttered? No one did, and that's the point. It just happened, because the creators of the Internet were thinking about other things. Because the creators of the Internet are a very distinct subspecies of humanity:
I think this is a very important idea, and have long waited for someone to turn the filter of gender studies onto the web—onto the question of industrial design in general, for example.
(Herewith I reveal my inner geek: I am obsessed with industrial design. Ask me sometime about the noises that microwaves make, or trucks in reverse, and ten minutes later you'll still be regretting it. A few years back I told a friend that I wanted to write a book about noise, and he's still laughing. But, really, it would have been a cool book.)
On the plus side—[the Web is] brilliant, complex, competitive, audacious in how it's changed our way of organizing experience. On the negative side—it's linear, utilitarian, cold, emotionless, disconnected.
....Because boys and geeks and engineers—and, by the way, I've spent my life among all three and love all three—don't naturally select for emotionality (they'd rather play video games) or exploration of inner life (they'd rather watch porn) or being in deep relationship with other people (they'd rather build Web sites till all hours), the Internet is singularly devoid of these colorations of humanity.
Couldn't agree more. The only technology company that seems to have any awareness of this is Apple—how many men do you see with iPod nanos—and even Apple is still primarily male-oriented.
Herskovitz's essay trails off a bit after this with a discussion of how quarterlife tried to create a more gender-balanced atmosphere online. But still...pretty thought-provoking. ¶ 7:43 AM
Not entirely.
Our relationship to the Internet is entirely made up of our relationship to browsers and Web sites. And you know what? They suck.
They're boring, one-dimensional, and unoriginal. Who decided that all Web sites should have a top nav bar and be rectangular in layout? Who decided they should abdicate any sense of design and be white and clean and uncluttered? No one did, and that's the point. It just happened, because the creators of the Internet were thinking about other things. Because the creators of the Internet are a very distinct subspecies of humanity:
Boys.
Geeks, engineers, and boys. And because the DNA of the Internet is entirely male, it exudes the best and worst of what males have to offer.I think this is a very important idea, and have long waited for someone to turn the filter of gender studies onto the web—onto the question of industrial design in general, for example.
(Herewith I reveal my inner geek: I am obsessed with industrial design. Ask me sometime about the noises that microwaves make, or trucks in reverse, and ten minutes later you'll still be regretting it. A few years back I told a friend that I wanted to write a book about noise, and he's still laughing. But, really, it would have been a cool book.)
On the plus side—[the Web is] brilliant, complex, competitive, audacious in how it's changed our way of organizing experience. On the negative side—it's linear, utilitarian, cold, emotionless, disconnected.
....Because boys and geeks and engineers—and, by the way, I've spent my life among all three and love all three—don't naturally select for emotionality (they'd rather play video games) or exploration of inner life (they'd rather watch porn) or being in deep relationship with other people (they'd rather build Web sites till all hours), the Internet is singularly devoid of these colorations of humanity.
Couldn't agree more. The only technology company that seems to have any awareness of this is Apple—how many men do you see with iPod nanos—and even Apple is still primarily male-oriented.
Herskovitz's essay trails off a bit after this with a discussion of how quarterlife tried to create a more gender-balanced atmosphere online. But still...pretty thought-provoking. ¶ 7:43 AM
