#aesthetinet

Everything is Data!

Hey, y’all!!!!

Long time no see, that’s on me… I've been preparing for the next Y2k moment but after this week’s reading, better to feel safer than sorry.

This week, I DORFic2kPrincessཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ur favourite, Digi-loving, and all-around amazing cool chick am looking into the writings, of Lisa R. Johnson from her book Curating Research Data more specifically the section “Intro to Data Curation”.

The writing opens with Johnson mentioning how data functions as the currency of the digital world, whether it be through sharing the data and gaining a reputation in a society that prioritizes data sharing or using data to appear transparent for funding agencies. Data is any information that is written in binary with research data being used as primary sources to support research used to guide the research process or accepted in research as necessary to validate findings. The reading then mentions how different forms of data are received and used through data repositories. Data repositories are a searchable interface that stores, manages, maintains and curates data in a managed space where the data is held permanently, made accessible and retrievable. They encapsulate a variety of digital data that is optimized throughout all time. This is the difficulty of the work done by data curators as no standard form means that the data curators are looking at this data for the first time every time. this is because data can be single sets, big collections, videos, recordings of media, and applications which include the code and documentation files. This is the biggest difficulty in the field of data curation, the preservation of all the data; verifying all the metadata and supplementary information of the data, describing it, understanding it and curating it to ensure everyone else can understand it easily and quickly for time to come.

This reading was interesting to me as someone who is so fascinated with the inner workings of the technology I spend all my time on. I thought the notion of data being a currency was quite pertinent as we live in a society where data is highly commodified. Companies use any sort of information they can get their hands on to try and forecast their most profitable markets, through the information that is on social media. The idea of data as transparency is important to me as well as I have to think about how often companies will tote and celebrate the highest diversity rates of all time, while they move towards phasing out their DEI practices, working to actively distract the consumer in hopes that they simply do not care enough to notice the changes in the companies’ mandates. This has bigger implications for society as more people become less willing to look at the data when they believe it to be false.

Aesthetically, this paper reminds me of the early days of the internet, my glory days. The entire reading emanates from Web-core and one of my favourites, Frutiger Aero.  As I sit here, I can feel the binary code coming through as if it’s behind every single word I type… oh wait it is!!!! The aesthetics of pure digits and the dialogue about pure data curation are very reminiscent of the early days of the Internet and the excitement that arose from its creation and subsequent expansions. They may seem out of place, but they share more similarities with the process of data curation than one might think. Data curation, as seen through the reading, is a painstaking and time-killing process that does not always result in the desired outcome for the researcher. This is very reminiscent of the two aesthetics of the early internet, as that is when the web made you work the most, rather than doing the work for you. This can be seen in the over-complicated processes that were present in both Web 1.0 and 2.0 and in their overwhelming and saturated backgrounds and interfaces that were clunky and buggy.

duces from ur fav Y2k baddie,

Aestheticaste

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) shape not just how we interact with technology, but how we understand it. While skeuomorphic design mimics physical objects, flat design removes these cues in favor of minimalism. These aesthetic shifts are not merely stylistic; they encode ideological assumptions. Skeuomorphic design operates within cynical ideology, where users know the artifice but embrace it anyway. Flat design, on the other hand, mirrors the myths of feudalism, giving the illusion of transparency while concealing algorithmic control.

Skeuomorphism: The Aesthetic of Cynical Ideology

Skeuomorphism—think leather-textured notepads or digital bookshelves—was once the dominant GUI aesthetic. While often dismissed as outdated, it functions within what Slavoj Žižek calls cynical ideology: “they know what they do, but they do it anyway.”] Users recognize that digital objects are simulations, yet they engage with them as if they were real. The aesthetic’s power lies in this contradiction.

This design choice is more than nostalgia—it acts as a comforting veil over the abstraction of digital systems. When an app resembles a familiar object, it reassures users that they remain in control, even as real control diminishes. The textured icons of early iPhones, for example, disguised the increasing automation and data extraction occurring beneath them. Skeuomorphism knowingly maintains an illusion: users understand that their interfaces are artificial, yet this aesthetic softens the transition from the tangible to the virtual.

But this illusion can no longer hold. As platforms optimize for efficiency and data-driven interaction, skeuomorphism’s reassuring mimicry gives way to an aesthetic that erases even the pretense of user agency.

Flat Design and the Feudal Myth of Digital Freedom

With the rise of flat design, shadows, textures, and embellishments disappeared in favor of minimalist grids, bright colors, and uniform typography. The shift was framed as a move toward clarity and efficiency, but as Wendy Hui Kyong Chun argues in On Software, or the Persistence of Visual Knowledge, software aesthetics are not neutral—they discipline users while making their constraints invisible.

Flat design presents itself as transparent: what you see is what you get. But this visual clarity is deceptive. By stripping away analog references, flat design hides the complexity of algorithms that shape what we see. Social media feeds, recommendation engines, and ranking algorithms structure digital experiences in ways that are neither visible nor neutral.

Here, I once again turn to Yanis Varoufakis’s theory of technofeudalism. Feudal societies maintained power by framing hierarchy as divine order. Today’s platforms function similarly, presenting algorithmic governance as a natural, benevolent force. Just as medieval subjects were told that God determined their place in society, users are told they freely shape their digital environments—when in reality, algorithms curate, filter, and restrict visibility.

Shadow banning, content suppression, and personalized feeds are not glitches but features of platform design. Yet, the aesthetics of flat interfaces mask this control, reinforcing the belief that digital spaces are neutral and democratic. The result is a feudal-like dependency on platforms that control visibility, engagement, and monetization. We exist as digital serfs, laboring within walled gardens, believing we have control when, in reality, we are governed by unseen forces.

Conclusion: Aesthetics as Ideology

Skeuomorphic and flat designs are more than visual trends; they encode ideological functions. Skeuomorphism, through its nostalgic mimicry, acknowledges its own artifice while soothing users’ transition into digital abstraction. Flat design, by contrast, eliminates these visual crutches while concealing deeper constraints, much like feudal myths masked medieval power structures. As digital capitalism evolves into technofeudalism, it becomes crucial to recognize that what appears transparent and neutral is often the most deceptive. The way interfaces look shapes how we think, and how we think determines whether we accept or challenge the systems behind them.

Exploring Steampunk in the Modern Era

Hi, my beautiful net-baes! This is [bubblegumprincess] here writing once again, and I hope you’re as excited as me.

My question today is inspired by Steampunk—a genre that, like Solarpunk, is radical in its own way. It’s not just about brass goggles and airships; at its core, Steampunk is a challenge to contemporary technological systems and the increasing tension between automation and individual subjectivity. As Dr. Kathe Hicks Albreche, who did her PhD in Steampunk studies, says, it is “a challenge to contemporary philosophical theories, and an odd tension between the technology-driven systems seen today and the basic human need for individual expression and autonomy.”

More than its Victorian aesthetic and retro-futuristic machines, Steampunk makes us ask an important question: What does it mean to be human today? The genre explores our anxieties around technology by taking us back to a time when machines were tangible, mechanical, and deeply intertwined with human craftsmanship. Unlike today’s seamless, algorithmic automation, Steampunk machines require human labor, skill, and direct interaction, creating a contrast to the way AI and digital tech often erase human agency.

Airships and mechanical automations powered by steam provide another environmentally friendly way to power technology and cities. One of my favorite Ghibli films, Howl's Moving Castle, uses Steampunk technology in its storyline, and if you’re interested, I would highly recommend you give it a watch. While we often feel nostalgic about the past, Steampunk provides an aesthetic and an idea to combine the past with the modern and the future.

This connects beautifully to Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, which critiques the rigid boundaries between human and machine. Haraway proposes the cyborg as a political and philosophical figure—an entity that exists between the biological and the mechanical, challenging binaries like human vs. machine, male vs. female, and even physical vs. digital. She suggests that embracing hybridity, rather than resisting it, could lead to a more inclusive and fluid understanding of identity and agency.

Steampunk, in its own way, plays with these very ideas. It takes technological progress and re-imagines it as something mechanical, tactile, and deeply human, rather than an invisible force governed by faceless corporations and AI. If Haraway’s cyborg is a hopeful political myth for a future where identity is hybrid and fluid, then Steampunk’s gears and steam-powered automatons ask us to consider an alternate path—one where technology is something we see, touch, and control.

This also brings me to Jean-François Lyotard and his concerns about “human software.” He questions whether our brains (our biological hardware) will be sufficient for the future or whether we will need to integrate with new technological forms to survive. Steampunk, while nostalgic for the past, engages with this question by imagining a world where technology is still grounded in human interaction rather than an abstract, posthuman future.

Steampunk and poststructuralist thought both seek to break down binaries—whether it’s human vs. machine, past vs. future, or even natural vs. artificial. They subvert the traditional Western narratives of salvation, apocalypse, and a return to origins. Instead, they offer us alternatives: a fragmented, complex, and non-linear future where technology and humanity evolve together.

So what do we take away from all this? If Solarpunk envisions a harmonious future where technology is embedded seamlessly into nature, Steampunk makes us question how we interact with technology and whether we’ve lost something in the shift to digital automation. Should technology be something we manipulate with our hands, or something that fades into the background like an omnipresent force?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Is Steampunk’s approach to technology more empowering than today’s invisible AI systems? Should we return to a more mechanical, hands-on relationship with tech, or fully embrace the seamless integration of human and machine? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay radical and keep questioning the world around you. <3

Aestheticaste

VIDEOS TO WATCH-

Steampunk Marxism

Simple steampunk breakdown

What's up my peepz all across the web, itz ur fabulous fav, the baddie of all time, or at least the 2000s, DORFic2KPrincess ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ

And today, I'll be ur bae guiding you through what exactly the heck they mean, the history of some of the most amazeee e-lit interfaces, and giving u the 4-1-1 on what aesthetics of this reading and the overall vibez of speculative interfaces <3…

This excerpt from the reading explains it in the most straight-up way. “Speculative interfaces indicate the experimentation with form genre and interface, an openness and exploration of interfaces that are not yet standard… or mimicking of something that does not yet and may never exist.”

This week, I had the absolute and completely joyous pleasure of reading “Speculative Interfaces: How Electronic Literature Uses the Interface to Make Us Think about Technology” by Jill Walker Rettberg, and boy, was this one was a doozy. This paper spoke about the history of speculative interfaces, specifically looking at it through electronic literature (e-lit) and argues that speculative interfaces are a key attribute of not only e-lit but the digital humanities as a whole. The paper argued its case through three examples across time: M.U.C. Love Letter Generator by Christopher Strachey (1952), Afternoon: A Story by Michael Joyce (1987), and Breathe by Kate Pullinger (2018), all of which created new speculative interfaces to enhance the experience for the individual. M.U.C’s love letter generator was revolutionary when it first emerged as it is the first piece of e-lit in history. The love letter generator was not a writing piece that Shakespeare would applaud, but that was not the purpose. Rather, the program was able to generate these love letters, and for Strachey, it was far more interesting how a computer can give the illusion that it is thinking up the response in the form of a love letter. While the technological marvels are nothing compared to today, it’s important to acknowledge that M.U.C. was the beginning of the speculative exploration of text generation. By creating M.U.C., Strachey explores the relationship between conventional romantic partners and, on a broader scale, between humans and machines.

The next speculative work mentioned by Rettberg is Michael Joyce’s Afternoon: A Story (1987), which marks the beginning of hypertext fiction. The story was first introduced at the first hypertext conference, which brought together computer scientists, poets, and humanities scholars to talk about the technical details of hypertext systems. The spirit of exploration was intrinsic to these early hypertext conferences, specifically the exploration of technology and aesthetic practices. The speculative interface in relation to Afternoon is not simply the hypertext interface, but rather the intertwining of it with a story that tells a narrative that is the speculative interface.

The last example mentioned is Kate Pullinger’s Breathe (2018), which is a short story meant to be experienced on a mobile phone. The story follows a young woman named Flo who communicates to the reader through one to two-sentence slides, totalling 105 when the story is complete. Throughout the story, we follow her, but are also interrupted by “the ghost,” who possesses our screen and halts the story while taking advantage of permissions allowed by the reader at the beginning of the story. When first opening the story, they ask for permission to access your device’s camera and location, both of which are used against you throughout the course of the story. The speculative interface in Breathe is the interface between humans and technologies; perhaps the ghost isn’t a ghost at all, but rather the tech itself, speaking directly to us, drawing us into itself.

Thinking about aesthetics when talking about this reading was difficult because there was so much information to take in that assigning an aesthetic or ‘core’ felt difficult because there was nothing else to latch onto. That being said, I do think this reading captures the intersection of multiple aesthetics. Firstly, as I was reading, it felt like I was walking through an abandoned building, but that has more to do with the respective interface of ‘electronic book review,’ not necessarily the reading. The reading reminded me of themes of futurism, avant-garde and surrealism. Futurism was a movement crafted in response to the quickness and speed, the power of the machine, and the vitality of the 20th  century. Avant-garde is obviously intertwined with speculative interfaces, as all speculative interfaces work in areas to make something new and different, often unusual or different in form factor, allowing the interfaces to keep pushing further into the speculative. Surrealism is also something that comes to mind when speaking about speculative interfaces because both work to try and revolutionize the human experience. Surrealism is about the juxtaposition of the normal and the oddities of dreamlike imagery, while not all speculative interfaces mentioned above use surrealism, they all function to introduce ‘dreamlike’ interfaces. They are all working to create new experiences or to enhance the already mundane experiences we encounter every day.

Urz 4everrrr,

Aestheticaste

Sunny days ahead?- Featuring Solarpunk

Hi, my beautiful net-baes! This is [bubblegumprincess] here writing for the first time and I hope you’re as excited as me. 

Okay so getting straight to the point seems to be a common trend this week so I plan on doing just that.

My question is inspired from Mark Weiser’s paper The Computer of the 21st Century which considers how we make technology fade into the background of our lives in an ethical manner? For this question, I instantly thought of Solarpunk, an aesthetic genre my TA from last semester (shout out Bronte) told me about. Imagine a world fully powered by solar energy and without global capitalism that dominates society. Seemingly idealistic right now, but Solarpunk brings the hope that this is not impossible. If you can think it, there’s a chance to make it. 

More than for the art and visual, solar-punk is highly regarded as an important literary movement for our future.  The aesthetics of solarpunk mainly center on its beautiful greenery that makes up civilization with simple yet still advanced green technology. As Jay Springett says in his blog post SOLARPUNK: A Reference Guide, Solarpunk provides a creative space that gets creatives to think productively about our future asking, “what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?”. I could spend hours talking about different technologies architects of this aesthetic have come up with, but we might have to save that for another day. In the meantime explore intriguing design ideas from the aesthetic I’ve found interesting here. 

A common trait in today’s generation is our detachment from the world around us and in turn ourselves by being too absorbed by our screen without even realizing. Technology with screens may be helpful in completing many tasks but as a negative side effect causes us to be separated from the natural world. In The Computer of the 21st Century, Mark Weiser explains how throughout history, "literacy technology" has always seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. However, as Weiser critiques, today's multimedia machine makes the computer screen into the focal point of attention rather than allowing it to truly fade into the background of the natural world. I agree with Weiser's team at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center that “the idea of a "personal" computer itself is misplaced and that the vision of laptop machines, dynabooks and "knowledge navigators" has not reached it’s real potential of information technology. ”

As a solution, I propose an incorporation of Solarpunk as an area of focus to invest in alongside Weiser’s idea.  The technological designs in Solarpunk, if achievable, will be sustainable and smoothly incorporated into everyday life. Now I am no engineer so I will need someone of that major to share their thoughts with me, but the idea of turning away from our waste heavy cities into a green and nature friendly one is worth the thought. By embedding future technology into the environment in sustainable ways seamlessly, we might develop technology that doesn’t hinder and disconnect humanity. We should aim to create a world where business, technology, and nature all work in harmony and balance. Capitalism hinders the ability to create for the betterment of the society by being consumed by just producing what will sell best (which is usually some extravagant combobulated bs).  Entrepreneurs such as Simon Blackler has already started proposing projects such as his work ‘Krystal’. They have already started with their first creation which is a web host and public cloud provider called Krystal Holding Ltd. They run on 100% renewable energy and pride themselves in running an ethical tech company rewarding all employees for their good efforts as well. As a company they claim they planted over 2.7 million trees and continue to invest in bettering the environment and world. 

Last year, as part of my SASAH final exhibition, I was proud to contribute to Western’s own Solarpunk-inspired project: the agrotunnel using agri-voltaics, led by Dr. Joshua Pearce. This project focuses on building an underground farming tunnel powered entirely by solar panels, allowing crops to be grown year-round in a sustainable and energy-efficient way.

Although still carrying concerns such as ownership, privacy, security, and surveillance, I believe the inspired technology from Solarpunk aesthetics align with the vision Weiser has for our future and serve as a productive next step. Instead of forcing humans to adapt to computers, computers should adapt to human needs. With growing concerns on AI, this is the type of ideas and optimism we need. 

Quote from A Solarpunk Manifesto: 

“In Solarpunk’s vision we’ve pulled back just in time to stop the slow destruction of our planet. We’ve learned to use science wisely, for the betterment of our life conditions as part of our planet. We’re no longer overlords. We’re caretakers. We’re gardeners.”

So it’s up to you to decide, will you choose to be comfortable staying a weed in the garden or choose to be a gardener of the world?

A video from Youtuber Andrewism who talks a lot on Solarpunk:

Stay hot and thinking,