I finished reading “Artificial Reality” by Myron Krueger. Here are some notes. I’ve included photos of the pages for my reference. (If this is a copyright problem, someone let me know and I’ll take them down!)

Intro. I really appreciated the bit in the intro about the historical link between technology and art.

p 17. He lays out these guidelines, which I have mixed feelings about.

Specifically, I think point three is relative. To me I am interested in how people can interact within virtual spaces, not specifically how a computer and a human can interact.

Also, I’m still deciding how I feel about point four. I think I agree, but I also think subtlety and a little mystery can be nice sometimes.

Finally, point six. Yeah, but no! Yes, I agree interaction should be judged on its own, but I believe aesthetic decisions are so important to people’s experiences that they should be taken into account when judging an interactive experience.

p 36. Lol When I was going back through my notes, I found a diagram and explanation of “facing you,” the piece I created for Refest. It looks like Krueger proposed the piece, but didn’t build it at the time. Inception?

p. 37 Really appreciate the quote about creating a “third space.”

p. 84 Simple but true point about touching people.”To touch people today, you have to slip past their defenses and involve them in an unfamiliar way.”

p. 85 Nice passage on “active art”

p. 92 “Awareness of your body”

p. 93 Interesting commentary on traditional v interactive art

p. 217 “The truest artificial reality…”

p. 241-3 [no images posted] Interesting commentary on involving physical play/interaction in the workplace.

p. 264 “In a totalitarian society, it is possible that a person could even be imprisoned in a graphic world and brainwashed by inescapable experiences. However, recent history suggests that tyranny has more to fear from technology than does democracy.”

Oof. I think I would have agreed with this a year ago, but the past few months have made me begin to fear the worst.