Category: Group A

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Why We Can’t Wait


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In his article “Fidget Spinners: How Buffer Icons Have Shaped Our Sense Of Time” Jason Farman makes some salient observations about the effects of the “instant gratification” that modern technology offers.  As technology has advanced, pages load instantaneously, apps download in seconds, and we can instantly stream new music when it’s released. Farman argues that that these developments have actually created a culture of impatience, and that this impatience is manifested in the buffering icons of loading pages. While they were originally designed to ease our waiting process, they have in fact become triggers of anxiety. Farman believes that we should look at waiting as a core part of connection, but I see anxiety from waiting as more simply. While our aversion to waiting is informed by increasing speeds of technology, our expectations only grow in step with these increases. People aren’t averse to waiting in all contexts, even technological. We are willing to wait much longer for a movie to download or for a family photo album to upload than for a Youtube video to buffer. We close a web page that isn’t loading after 10 seconds not because we can’t bear to wait 10 seconds but because if a page doesn’t load after 10 seconds it probably won’t load after 10 minutes. Farman describes how tech companies use various waiting icons, manipulate loading speeds, and utilize other tools to dictate our “perception of time and duration”, in effect setting our expectations for how these products should perform. If technology companies are in fact the architects of our expectations as Farman claims then surely they can have no complaints when consumers expect them to be meet. While it may be useful to consider what “waiting” tells us about our relationships I ultimately see it as less significant than the author.

‘Nothing heightens the suspense of a good movie like buffering.’

 

 

Bibliography

“Fidget Spinners.” Real Life, reallifemag.com/fidget-spinners/.

Stahler, Jeff. “Buffering.”

Posted from DIG 101 by Ellis C

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The Cruelty of Waiting


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Source: Giphy

Since a young age, we’ve all been taught that anything important is worth the wait. In contemporary times, waiting has been engrained in our culture from waiting for a website to load to waiting for our food to arrive to even waiting days in lines for clothes. There is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when the wait ends and we are rewarded for our patience.

I had the pleasure of meeting the Mac’s spinning rainbow wheel several times just trying to get the gif above (Giphy’s site is not a fan of my laptop). But after several achingly long minutes of my laptop trying to comprehend the massive amounts of moving pixels on the screen, I was able to slowly quickly copy the url. This lead me to consider several things. Should I have used a different site? Should I get a better laptop? Instantly, I was looking for alternatives for waiting to be obsolete. In Jason Farman’s article “Fidget Spinners”, he claims that, “Waiting will never be eliminated and, deep down, we don’t want it to be.” I’m going to have to disagree on that one Jason.

When I saw the multitude of gifs on Giphy begin to slow down, anxiety overcame me. When everything had frozen, a piece of me died and I cursed at my own stupidity as Giphy had crashed on me many times before in class. While the loading icon does imply that something is happening, it brought me little comfort to see the little rainbow wheel pop up on my screen. There was only frustration and I wanted to take my anger out on the stupid, colorful icon that was unnecessarily happy. Saying that we are joyful after waiting X amount of time to receive what we want seems like an equivalent of our parents making us finish our homework before watching TV. It is merely a chore and an obstacle set upon us by outside forces.

I hate this thing. Source: Giphy

In conclusion, waiting is a cruel mistress. Sometimes, the end results is rewarding. Sometimes, it can be the bearer of bad news. My friends at Georgia Tech who have had their programs crash on them after hours of work will have more information on the latter.

Posted from our fascination by Tony N.

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Trolling: Remember the Good Times


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It’s hard to use the internet for an entire day and not encountered some sort of trolling. From Youtube comments sections to Twitter to Facebook live, trolls are all over the internet today. From the shroud of anonymity, cruel bullies have infected our internet. As we discussed in class, the impact of trolling is often no laughing matter, often leading to some sort of emotional trauma and in the most extreme cases suicide.

When I think about the cultural decline of the internet into spiteful depravity it makes me sad, so I try to put a positive spin on it by looking at good-example of trolling. The perfect trolling prank, in my mind, is funny and does no emotional or real harm. An awesome example of this is how South Park trolled its viewers during one of its recent episodes.

In the episode, the characters gave Alexa all sorts of absurd commands like setting early alarms and adding random items to viewers’ shopping carts. I thought this was a hysterical effort of trolling, even though I fell victim to it with my Alexa sitting susceptible next to my tv. It’s fun. It didn’t do any permanent harm to anyone.

THe South Park Alexa prank made me think about how the changing landscape of hardware use in our day to day is changing how we can be trolled. Think about it. I was trolled when I wasn’t even using a tool I could, in theory, be contacted through. I was streaming TV on Hulu. But because I happened to have an IOT-enabled speaker, somebody was able to prank me without even speaking to me.

Source:

South Park trolled Amazon Echo owners in the best way possible

Posted from My blog by Will H.

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What’s Behind the “Buffering Icon”


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As I read “Fidget Spinners: How buffer icons have shaped our sense of time”, I at first disagreed with Farman’s claim that buffering icons create an intimacy with someone through technology (or even the technology itself) and represents the hope of satisfaction. I thought about my reactions to the buffer icons of my Mac, Instagram, and Youtube; usually they were ones of frustration because I was being forced to wait to look at something, watch something, save something, etc.

As I finished the article, however, I could see that some of what Farman was saying about intimacy was true. I decided that, for me personally, there are two  different instances of how I feel about waiting on technology.

I think (and I feel this may be true for others) that the instances that I get frustrated with waiting for technology is when I know the content that is “behind” the buffering icon. For example, I get really frustrated when I am trying to download something into a folder online, and the buffering icon is preventing it from occurring quickly. Or when I am trying to watch my favorite movie on Netflix and the buffering icon is taking so long that it is preventing me from doing that.

 

A different instance where I am waiting on technology in which I actually feel excited with anticipation and intimacy as Farman suggests is when I am waiting for a text message and I see the typing bubble that pops up in iMessage when someone is typing me a message back. This specific buffering icon creates excitement because its duration, how fast it pops up, etc. are indicators of what the message might say, and it is exciting to wait for it, especially when it is in an intimate conversation with a friend or a love interest (Haha).

This is not a clear, distinctive line however. There are certain platforms of technology in which I am waiting, and sometimes I feel excitement, and sometimes I just get frustrated at how long I am waiting to see or watch something that I am really interested in. This blur is really interesting because I think it can represent other instances unrelated to technology in which we are waiting and will have different reactions in different moments. One good example of this blur would be waiting for an Instagram picture to load. While sometimes it is exciting to anticipate what the picture might be while it loads, it is also sometimes frustrating when you have to wait a really long time for something you want to see.

All GIFs in this post were retrieved from giphy.com 

Posted from Digital Studies 101 Blog by Lindsay

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Read 10:20 AM, …, and blue double checks.


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In  Fidget Spinners: How Buffer Icons Have Shaped Our Sense of Time, Jason Farman mentions how people are so attached to technology and their phones because they feel connected to them and in a way understand their function.

I had never really thought of the influence a loading icon or cursor can have on our lives, but while reading this article I was put in a position to stop, think and realize how many time I have closed a window or automatically reloaded a page, or just simply given up on something because it was not loading fast enough or because it had no indication of doing so.

…

People want to know what is going to happen, they want to know that what they want to watch is at least loading by the appearance of a classical circular loading symbol or with the escalation of a percentage counter. People want to know if you have read their texts either with the word “read”, or with two blue colored checks, or if the person you are currently texting and dedicating your time to is about to text you back with the three moving dots.  Whatever it is we need constant affirmation that the technology we use in our everyday lives is working and functioning towards our own benefits. 

WhatsApp’s affirmation

I guess it is a psychological factor that keeps us attached to out technology. How else would we keep watching a video if no one told us that somewhere out there, magical efforts are being made for it to load and play? How else would we trust our phones to tell us that a person has read our text and is not lying to us? So many theories, articles and studies have been done and created around this topic of people’s reactions and emotions if there is a Read but no answer. I guess this is another way of realizing how stuck we are to today’s technology and of course cannot escape it either.

Giphy.com

 

 

Posted from DIG101 by Danae

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Digital 101 2017-10-14 16:51:22


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The article, “Fidget Spinners: How Buffer Icons Have Shaped Our Sense Of Time“, gave me a perspective that I knew was true but I didn’t think about. I think it’s funny to think that these eclipses and these symbols for loading times prove to be important to us — that the time that it takes for things to buffer or load give us meaning.

iMessage Eclipse

Which, anecdotally, I think is accurate. We text people a paragraph long message and expect a message that took them a long time to think about. The time it takes for them to interpret the message and respond offers us an inkling of how much the person took to respond and whether or not they cared about how they formatted their response. I wonder if Apple built this with the same intention as Facebook’s pause in security profiles.

I do believe that the eclipses serve as a way to quell our anxiety over the person we are communicating with. The added feature of read receipts, an indicator of when the message was read by the receiving person, gives us exact timing of our wait. The article emphasizes that this wait gives meaning to our relationship and our message. It gives way for people to understand their place in your life. If a person chooses to read the message but refuses to reply until hours later, then both you and the person you’re communicating with gets to decide what that means. Did they not respond due to obligations? Or did they needed time to respond? Or did they just chose to ignore it completely?

Posted from Digital 101 by Christy

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Waiting in the Digital Age


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In modern society, it has become essentially commonplace for people to have immediate satisfaction with little or no wait time. So when a person is forced to wait for something rather than receiving it immediately, what kind of impact does that have on the person? According to Jason Farman in his article “Fidget Spinners: How Buffer Icons Have Shaped Our Sense Of Time,” “it’s a combination of technological expectations and cultural expectations.” Essentially what Farman is saying here is that people have a certain expectation regarding how quickly their technology should operate and when it does not meet that expectation, people get agitated or stressed. This is why the buffering icon has become a symbol of stress and anticipation.

Classic buffering icon. Link to gif here.

A culture of immediate satisfaction has been created in the modern era due to the development of texting, high-speed internet and many other forms of technology. People are able to acquire essentially anything they desire without a substantial wait time and this has led to a society where no one is willing to wait an extended amount of time for anything. This is why I believe that the buffering icon has become an enemy of  anyone who has had to deal with a massive wait time for something to download or the our internet connection to return. The buffering icon mocks a society in which people are so incredibly impatient and refuse to wait for something that they believe they should receive immediately.

Link to gif here.

Bibliography:

Jason Farman’s Article: http://reallifemag.com/fidget-spinners/ 

 

 

 

Posted from My blog by Charlie

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Counter Gifs


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Sports Gif

Example

Counter Example

Analysis

 

Sports gif most often seek to capture the most integral moments of a game. But often the most less exciting important moments are eschewed for flashier jaw dropping highlights. The original gif shows teammates Steph Curry and Kevin Durant combining for an alley-oop dunk. It was an exciting play but ultimately inconsequential to the outcome of the game. The countergif shows a seemingly pedestrian free throw that actually ended up sealing a playoff series. While the former fits nicely into the gif format the latter subversively fulfills the purpose of sports gifs, to capture important moments.

 

Reaction Gifs

Example

Counter Example

Analysis

Reaction gifs show a moment that communicates a particular emotional response. They are used in response to posts or content that can be exciting, comical, angering, or any other emotion. They usually feature a single person with a clearly defined expression that is immediately communicated to the viewer. The original is a widely circulated gif used to communicate indignation or shock. This is contrasted with the countergif which shows two children with opposite reactions obscuring the intended response instead of transmitting a clear easily identifiable response.

 

Fandom Gif

Example

Counter Example

Fandom Gif Analysis

Fandom gifs crystallize a significant or memorable scene from popular television shows and movies. Whether it be a cutaway shot from the office or a memorable scene from Real Housewives the gifs call to mind fond memories of our favorite media. Committed fans will often recognize the specific scene immediately but as these gifs become increasingly popularized they can begin to lose their original context. They can be commandeered by users who may not know the scene from which they originated and can thus devolve into specialized reaction gifs. The original gif I selected is a commonly used gif from The Wire that communicates a contemptuous or indignant reaction. The countergif shows a similar reaction from the same character as the original gif but then shows the remainder of the scene from the original TV series. The contemptuous reaction is followed by a brutal shooting which communicates an entirely different message than the original gif. This startling contrast places the countergif back in its original context and comments on the common divorcement of fandom gifs from their source materials.

Posted from DIG 101 by Ellis C

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Counter GIFs


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Reaction GIF

   Example:

Via Giphy

Counter Example: 

Analysis:

Reaction GIFs capture the physical and/or emotional response and reaction of a person, animal, cartoon, etc. They are usually very descriptive and show a lot of emotion and facial expressions. They are usually used in response to a conversation to express the feeling or thought that derives from what the other person has said. Therefore they need to be very graphic since they embody a whole feeling in just a few seconds. This counter GIF of a woman just starring shows no emotion and could be hardly used as a way to show a graphic emotion or reaction.

 

Cinemagraph GIF

Example:

Via Giphy 

Counter example:

Analysis: 

Cinemagraph GIFs have started becoming more and more popular as they are being used in advertisements and media. They are usually on the more artistic side and portray one or a few moving aspect of the GIF while everything else remains still, therefore making cinema graph GIFs very aesthetically pleasing. This GIF however, of two kids in a hotel room represents the exact opposite. there is nothing artistic about it nor pleasing. It shows random movement of everything and nothing in this GIF is still.

Sport GIF

Example: 

Counter example: 

Analysis:

Sport GIFs usually depict highlights of a game, athletes, fans and anything that pretty much relates to a specific team or sport. Basically, Sport GIFs are like fandom GIFs but for elevating anything that has to do with sports. Therefore, Sport GIFs will only be shared if they are of some importance, if they are captivating amount or if they are funny. The counter GIF depicts nothing else but a bad shot of a glimpse of a soccer ball and some sports shoes. This pretty much shows nothing of interest to a sport fan or sport enthusiast therefore making it a useless and counter Sport GIF.

 

 

Posted from DIG101 by Danae