The culture of the interface: analysing the web site as textual and cultural practiceDr. Anne Cranny-Francis Tuesday 29 April 2003 at 11am AbstractThis talk argues for a cultural appreciation of the web site as both a new genre of text and as the social and cultural interface between users and their technology. Whilst technical issues must be of major concern to the designers and builders of web sites, they are not of particular interest to the majority of users - any more than the complex and intricate technology of the modern car engine concerns the average driver. Rather the concern of users is on how the interface - web site, car - works for them, as a social, cultural and textual practice/product. What kinds of meanings does the web site convey to the user? and how? How does the web site construct an identity for the producer of the site? And how might it enter into the subjectivity of the user? How is it incorporated by users into their everyday lives? Questions such as these constitute a cultural and social (and textual) approach to usability which will be explored with reference to several web sites. Short resumeAnne Cranny-Francis is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University. She is the author of four books and numerous articles on cultural theory and textual analysis. She is currently preparing a book on the cultural analysis of web sites and other multimedia texts, which is based on eight years of consultancy work with organisations such as the National Library of Australia, the Australian Taxation Office, the National Archives of Australia. |