Platform studies

From Driscollwiki

Montfort, N. and Bogost, I. (2009). Platform studies. Cambridge:MIT Press.

Contents 1 Afterword on Platform Studes (145) 1.1 Reception/operation 1.2 Interface 1.3 Form/function 1.4 Code 1.5 Platform 1.6 Expanded notions of platform 1.7 Determining degree of specificity

Afterword on Platform Studes (145)

Five levels on which analyses of digital media might focus.

• Note that all are embedded in a culture, context, history

Reception/operation

Studies that focus on player, viewer, reader:

• Reception aesthetics
• Reader-response theory
• Studies based on psychoanalytic approaches
• Media effects studies
• Empirical studies of interaction, play

Examples:

• Turkle, Sherry.
• Iser, Wolfgang: reader-response theory
• Loftus, Geoffrey R. and Loftus, Elizabeth, F.'s study of game player behavior

Interface

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

• Comparative studies of user interface by humanities scholars, literary critics
• Visual studies, film theory, art history

Examples:

• Bolter, Jay David and Grusin, Richard: "remediation"

Form/function

The "core" of the program

• Rules of the game
• Nature of the simulation
• Abilities of computer-controlled opponents
• The design rather than the implementation

Primary subject of:

• Cybertext studies
• Games studies
• Ludology, Narratology approaches

Code

How the form and function of a program is actually written in code:

• Code studies, critical code
• Software studies
• Code aesthetics
• Includes consideration for
  • Comments
  • Variable names
  • Binaries
  • By-products
  • Documentation
  • Records of the coding process
• Might also consider
  • Conditions, context
  • Tools, coding apparatus

Recent code-focused events:

• Ars Electronica
• Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA)

Platform

Abstraction layer beneath code

• In some cases, instantiated as hardware

Embedded in a context

• Culture
• History
• Society
• Economy
• Material

A computational platform...

• Is shaped by values and forces
• Expresses views about the world (148)

Expanded notions of platform

Platform may be hardware (as in the Atari VCS)

• But may also be standardized software
  • e.g. BASIC on the 1970s, 80s, home PC
  • e.g. Sun Java and its relationship to Processing
  • e.g. web browser?
  • e.g. comparison of Apple II and C64
    • similar microcomputer platforms
    • foundations for v. different cultures (education, spreadsheet / demoscene, gaming)

"Studies focused on the code of particular [...] programs are important to pursue, but studies that consider the programming language as a platform for computation will also be important." (148)

Determining degree of specificity

• Simplicity of Atari VCS enabled close study of each component in the case
• Similar approach to more complex system may be prohibitive,
  • Or perhaps there are other considerations, e.g. operating system implementation