Overview
Make sure you cover all of Bogost's and Montfort's five layers of New Media. Please BOLD each term on the first reference in your paper. 1. Platform, 2. Code, 3. Form/Function, 4. Interface, 5. Reception/Operation.
Application Analysis In thinking about the way we use new media technology, it is important to consider not simply how that technology is used, but also how it is designed, and how our uses for the technology (games we play, social networks we engage with, apps we have send us notifications) are shaped by the way specific platform infrastructures (gaming consoles, mobile phones, operating systems) function. In this assignment, you will break down how the platforms through which we engage with new media shape our experiences with new media technology by analyzing a specific application (either a smartphone app or a video game). While it is not expected that you will have the indepth knowledge to break down the actual code that underlies these platforms, the goal of the assignment is to push you to think critically about the affordances of a given platform and the way they influence the development of applications on that platform. Step One: Choosing a specific “Application” (etc.) to analyze This could include a mobile application (Facebook, Snapchat, Tinder, Pinterest, etc.) or a game (iOS, Android, console, handheld, etc.). Step Two: Identifying the platform affordances behind the “Application” This includes the affordances (touch screen, GPS, gyroscopes, controllers, cameras, etc.) of the hardware used to access the application as well as the operating system on that hardware (iOS, Android, etc.). Central Questions to address in your paper: • What would you identify as the central goal of the application? Why would users of a particular platform choose to engage with this specific application? • How do we interface with the application, and how is that influenced by affordances of the platform it’s built on? • What does the application allow you to actually do, in terms of “form and function?” How do the affordances of the platform make this possible? • Would you consider this “application” a creative and/or productive use of its platform? Why or why not?