Music 256a Reading Response 2

Angel Fan

Reading Response

Artful Design Ch. 2

The idea of “ubiquitous technology” from chapter 2 of Artful Design actually sounds quite terrifying and brings to mind post-apocalyptic cyberpunk imagery of our lives being run by universal technology like some of the examples discussed in class such as Blade Runner or Ready Player One. However, there is a flip side of ubiquitous technology; the idea that one design, such as the ocarina on the iPhone can reach so many different people and provide a similar experience. The rise of ubiquitous technology and its co-evolution with music makes me wonder if musical instruments themselves have become ubiquitous? You could think of musical instruments as technology, they are tools created by humans with the intended purpose of making sound. Then I thought about the organ since it was used as an example in this chapter. Organs were immobile and extremely difficult to learn. In addition only organists were allowed to even play them. Then later harpsichords were invented, and after that pianos, which had much greater musical range and were available for more people to learn. Today, there’s a keyboard in almost every household I’ve been in. The accessibility, price point, and playability of keyboard instruments have evolved into something almost everyone has in their home, almost like the smartphone. Electronic keyboards even have lighter keys and can come in different sizes, making being able to play much easier.

I was also creeped out about the idea of ubiquitous technology being able to “disappear” and blend into our lives without us even really noticing anymore. It brought to mind the fact that I’d be much more surprised if someone told me they didn’t have a smartphone. It is nice to not have to stress about getting lost or ever being truly alone, but the idea that it has lulled me into a false sense of security is rather upsetting. I’m actually glad that the smartphone has NOT become as invisible as Mark Weiser envisioned, that it is still a brick that can barely fit in women’s pockets. Perhaps the next step would be something like the Google Glasses, which some speculate may have failed because it felt too invasive for our personal bodies and too inseparable from the user.

Artful Design’s Principle 2.3 highlights why it’s important to think about ubiquitous technology: because sometimes function follows form. It utilizes what’s already available and can give a designer freedom by providing constraints. I recall Kunwoo saying how constraints give rise to freedom and creativity, which I completely agree with. The ocarina demonstrates the beauty of ubiquitous technology with the feature where you can listen in on anyone playing the ocarina all over the globe. Without something as ubiquitous as the iPhone there wouldn’t be many ocarina players out there to listen to, and in an age where every other article wants to scare us with how technology is tearing us apart, sometimes it’s nice to just listen to a stranger play “Heart and Soul” halfway across the globe.

Assassin’s Creed Origins--The Idyllic Video Game Design

When watching the video essay “The Idyllic Video Game Design” as I found myself getting lost in the vast landscape of Aaru and becoming soothed by the visuals and worldbuilding from Assassin’s Creed Origins, I thought it was interesting how one game can be such a different experience for different user’s and if it was even the intention of these game designers for players to be swept up in the realm they built as they gear away from the main tasks or storyline. As a human and thus an empathetic creature I could understand how visiting the afterlife, a place of peace and serenity, can make fighting in the game or even carrying on with a storyline feel almost pointless. In this video essay, Ge Wang describes this place as ‘the sublime’, something that as a student following the tome of Artful Design is the ultimate “goal” in a way of what we can only hope to create. But what does it mean to be sublime? From this video essay I found it personally to mean being reminded what life and being human is all about, remembering that we just move through life as a series of experiences and forgetting the materialism and goal-oriented mindsets that we’re so often occupied by. I’m sure my definition of sublime will evolve as I learn more about artful design, but this is what this video essay left me feeling about it.