BioMedia : News

	NEW BOOKS RELEASED Biomedia Eugene Thacker The University of Minnesota Press, 2004

	As biotechnology defines the new millennium, genetic codes and computer codes increasingly merge—life understood as data, flesh rendered programmable. Where this trend will take us, and what it might mean, is what concerns Eugene Thacker in this timely book, a penetrating look into the intersection of molecular biology and computer science in our day and its likely ramifications for the future.
	Windows and Mirrors: Interaction Design, Digital Art, and the Myth of Transparency Jay David Bolter and Diane Gromala The MITPress, 2003

	Contrary to Donald Norman's famous dictum, the authors argue that we do not always want our computers to be invisible "information appliances." Rather, they say that a computer is a medium that is taking its place beside other media like printing, film, radio, and television. As a medium, the computer creates new forms and genres for artists and designers. Bolter and Gromala argue that invisibility or transparency is only half the story; the goal of digital design is to establish a rhythm between transparency—made possible by mastery of techniques—and reflection, as the medium itself helps us understand our experience of it. As a purest form of experimental design, Bolter and Gromala show what digital art has to offer to Web designers, graphic artists, interface designers, HCI experts, and, for that matter, anyone interested in the cultural implications of the digital revolution.

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