The interface
Director: Ridley Scott
Title: Blade Runner
Date: 1982
Page: 63
The user's screen was ruled by straight lines and rectangular windows that contained smaller rectangles of individual files arranged in a grid. However, the computer communicated with the user via rectangular boxes containing clean black type rendered against a white background. Subsequent versions of graphical user interface added colours and made it possible for users to customize the appearance of many interface elements.
This is an example of how the interface imposes its own logic on media, just need to consider the cut and paste operations, standard in all software running under the modern GUI. This operation renders insignificant the traditional distinction between spatial and temporal media, since the user can cut and paste parts of images, regions of space and parts of a termporal composition in exactly the same way. Also this could be applied to texts, still and moving images, sounds and 3D objects.
This interface comes to play a crucial role in the information society in yet another way. In this society, work and leisure activities not only increasingly involve computer use, but they also converge around the same interfaces.
Both "work" applications such as word processors , spreadsheet programs , database program,etc and leisure applicantions such as computer games, informational DVD use the same tools and metaphors of GUI.
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