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The Interface Effect 1st Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

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Interfaces are back, or perhaps they never left. The familiar Socratic conceit from the Phaedrus, of communication as the process of writing directly on the soul of the other, has returned to center stage in today's discussions of culture and media. Indeed Western thought has long construed media as a grand choice between two kinds of interfaces. Following the optimistic path, media seamlessly interface self and other in a transparent and immediate connection. But, following the pessimistic path, media are the obstacles to direct communion, disintegrating self and other into misunderstanding and contradiction. In other words, media interfaces are either clear or complicated, either beautiful or deceptive, either already known or endlessly interpretable.

Recognizing the limits of either path, Galloway charts an alternative course by considering the interface as an autonomous zone of aesthetic activity, guided by its own logic and its own ends: the interface effect. Rather than praising user-friendly interfaces that work well, or castigating those that work poorly, this book considers the unworkable nature of all interfaces, from windows and doors to screens and keyboards. Considered allegorically, such thresholds do not so much tell the story of their own operations but beckon outward into the realm of social and political life, and in so doing ask a question to which the political interpretation of interfaces is the only coherent answer.

Grounded in philosophy and cultural theory and driven by close readings of video games, software, television, painting, and other images, Galloway seeks to explain the logic of digital culture through an analysis of its most emblematic and ubiquitous manifestation –  the interface.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Galloway's theorisation of the computer as a mode of mediation offers rich possibilities for the critical analysis of the digital."
Seb Franklin, in
Radical Philosophy

"
The Interface Effect builds on the work of Marxist critical theorists such as Fredric Jameson, new media scholars such as Wendy Chun, and Galloway's own work in earlier books such as Protocol. ... An interface, for him, becomes a technique for thought: an 'allegorical device' that makes the social world accessible in an age of information. ... The Interface Effect raises many critical questions about the ways that contemporary human beings mediate a historical present that invariably eludes us."
Patrick Jagoda, in the Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Alexander R.  Galloway is Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Polity; 1st edition (October 8, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0745662536
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0745662534
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 21 ratings

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Alexander R. Galloway
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Alexander R. Galloway is professor in the Department of Culture and Communication at New York University. He is the author of several books including Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Minnesota, 2006), Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization, and The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (Minnesota, 2007).

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2013
    Very complex and profound book, analytically dense, most up-to-date in the digital field, investigates interface as a reconstructive threshold, connecting two different worlds, implying a hermeneutic dynamics (interpretation). Communication is more than technical formalisms (these are grounding elements, of course, in the Shannon’s and Turing’s tradition) – it involves complex human expression that needs transformative passages between connection levels. I appreciated and learned very much. It’s a good example of how sophisticated can be analytical elaborations in the human sciences, when referred to new media.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2017
    The work done by Galloway is mostly effective. The only times that The Interface Effect falls short are he's there are points where more in-depth analysis would have been helpful in strengthening the ideas of the book. That said, the book is approachable. It'll be a great read for people studying technology and communication.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2013
    In this very compact and rich book, Galloway shows great attention to methodology and discusses other essays at lenght. By rethinking most of the common place in media theory and showing their shortcomings in describing the computer interface, he sheds a lot of light on our relationship with machines under the ''society of control''. A work of great rigor with an elegantly unfloding argument.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in media, politics, aesthetics and even gaming.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2017
    Started this book while in 12th grade and with little to no experience with academic writing and no experience in media studies / cultural studies. At that time, I was hellbent on reading all over the place (wherever my networks take me) - so that I would feel satisfied in my choice of major.

    While this goal helped supercharge my motivation--ultimately enough to finish this book; having read around (and watched youtube lectures), of galloway's works this one is my favorite

    If you're an old-school academic, a theorist working in a bubble and are out-of-touch w/ modern technology & culture at large, working in the fields of: *Anthropology *Art History *Computer Science *Physics *Mathematics

    I say this:

    - This book will probably piss you off on first read
    - It may speak slightly over your head, partially because of the vocabulary, though for me-- I was much more likely to get lost and feel totally bewildered by Galloway's intense stylistic turns. In short -- his vocab isn't hard, but his melodramatic 'prophecy-like' quips seem to get more 'screen time', at the expense of more precise 'prefaces' for Galloway's arguments.

    The Interface Effect is practically essential reading in contemporary digital (media) cultural studies - perfect balance of Galloway's (often) experimental, non-categorizable, non-STEM approach towards technology- with the perfect amount of the ~~~~scary~~apocalyptic~ post-internet theorist insight to keep you from throwing the book across the room.
    -
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2013
    A bit too out there for me on digital media. If you are in academia and trying to argue FOR digital humanities against the doubters and techno-phobes than his perspectives and arguments are perhaps useful. However, he ignores access to technology to a fault. Very dry, very academic, very smart but very shaky as an effective argument due to what he does not address.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Ernest W
    4.0 out of 5 stars OK
    Reviewed in Poland on November 17, 2022
    The amount of topics covered by author is decent, its first half was enjoyable, more about the interfaces themselves but the other is like a different book disconnected from the rest. Unfortunately many times he jumps between ideas (interfaces, new media, politics, sociology, philosophy) and takes for granted a lot of references so I had difficulties understanding what I'm reading. Maybe I don't have enough knowledge to gain complete understanding.
  • turnerpage
    5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 10, 2013
    another outstanding work from the author of Protocol, continuing the debate with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, and entering new terrains of interfaciality