Sebastian Lubbers' CMS 3710 Project 2 Analysis
Postcards From Yo Mama
Interactivity
According to Manovich, new media asks audiences to identify with a certain mental structure in order to interact with it (61). PYFM asks its users to be get into the mindset of a generation that is completely unfamiliar with the practices of digital communication. The humor of the site comes from "a uniquely individual state" that has become "part of the public sphere" by taking unique instances and sharing it "in public" on the net (Manovich 60). If the user wants to interact with PYFM, the user must think back to these instances and find the humor in them (which has been externalized by the site’s theme and design). Users identify with the mindset the web designer has put into PYFM’s design and submit instances of this mindset to the site thus making it interactive on a psychological level. This degree of interactivity is also measured when the user reads and comments on entries.
(The submission page for PYFM)
PYFM does fulfill the degree of interactivity expected from a new media object, it does not do so in real-time. Users cannot expect to see their submissions immediately (or even at all if the editors decide not to post the submission). This level of interactivity is reserved only for the site’s host and editors. Manovich states that “the user is given many options to modify the performance of a program or media object” and the level of interactivity contained in PYFM contradicts this fact. The user is only able to submit, read, comment, and search for entries in the site. The user cannot read all entries submitted due to the editor’s discretion. With over 7,000 unique submissions published, the user must wonder about the submissions that never made it. However, Manovich does explain that these are "general tendencies" of new-media objects and not absolutes (27).
Sebastian Lubbers
CMS 3710
Updated: 29 April 2010