I would like to do a creative project that touches on three themes that I want to address: accessibility to these technologies, learning how to use media, and the functionality of these technologies. I propose to design an electronic piece of literature that will essentially serve as a how-to-guide of using these technologies. The guide however will be targeted to an audience that does not usually have access to these technologies or access to learning how to engage with them. The idea behind this stems from my interest in thinking of ways to bridge the digital divide while also being able to personally conceive and engage with technology in innovative ways.
My project will consist of an electronic piece of literature that through engaging with the technology the user will be introduced to content that explains the processes at work during the experience. It will have technical explanations as well as theoretical concepts – framed within a historical context – to allow the user to understand the work that is being done with the technology. I plan on designing this technology through the technical skills I have with a program called Processing, which will have an interface similar to that of the cyber text literature that we had read, but it will be completely designed and computer coded by me and then put online for use. This will allow me to exercise practical skill while being able to invent a new experience for myself and other users – keeping in mind that each experience is going to be different. My hope is that this literature becomes a tool that exemplifies theory in practice, a way of facilitating education through technology theory. By clicking on different prompts the user will be directed to textual information that they will read to receive information or technological lessons, or they will be directed toward interactive forms of the text that asks them to use the instructions provided earlier to test their functional skills in the technology. This guide will be fulfilling to me as a creator but also to larger communities as a tangible and interactive tool for education and social change.