The Politics of the Interface - Dreamweaver

March 31st

"Within the virtual space represented by these interfaces, and elsewhere within computer systems, the values of our culture -- ideological, political, economic, educational -- are mapped both implicitly and explicitly, constituting a complex set of material relations among culture, technology, and technology users" (Selfe 485).

My experience building a website with Microsoft Expressions was definitely shaped by the values of our culture.  The content of my website was of course built upon our culture's thoughts of obesity.  For example, American culture does not praise obesity whereas in other cultures having too much body fat is a sign of affluence.  Here, we think of the negative side effects of obesity.  As a result, my bias against obesity partially stems from the cultural norms that surround me, the pre-existing ideology that obesity is harmful and looked down upon. 

Selfe makes the claim that issues of "racism, sexism, and colonialism" are reflected through different interfaces.  While I believe this statement is true to an extent, it is difficult for viewers to see these issues.  These issues may depend on what content is included and what is excluded in a particular interface.  For instance, Reddit is based on upvotes and downvotes.  Posts that receive the most upvotes are displayed on the first page, while those with more downvotes are not displayed on the first page.  This allows popular posts to be more visible than less popular posts.  Another example is when a web designer chooses to build a website, but includes only information he wants to include.  Therefore, the viewers of this website are potentially exposed to the values of race, gender, and so on that the web designer has.  

One way to address these issues that Selfe and Selfe point out is computer-supported writing environments that are more democratic.  For instance, online discussion boards for students rather than face to face discussions eliminate regards for race, gender, age, and so on.  These type of environments are known as "linguistic utopias" where indications of race, gender, and class are minimized.