Introduction

There are larger issues involved in the whole advent of computer mediated communication that reflect fundamental changes in the ways we think, act, and interpret reality.

We will spend the last four weeks of class discussing postmodernism, and how these ideas relate to the ways we communicate, work, interact with popular culture, and conceive of our own identities.

Computing gives us metaphors about the way we think and changes the way we think about ourselves. It represents a shift from linear, modern thought, to a new non-linear way of thinking. This concept is reflected in the different approaches to computing and the evolution from rational, modern batch processing from the 1950's to macintosh user interfaces of the 80's and 90's.

By masking the complexity of things, (such as the inner workings of the computer system) we enter into a culture of simulation and interaction (now we interact with the simulated desktop.) Interacting with the world no longer requires understanding the world as it is, but rather interacting with your image of the world.

The web has been considered the first postmodern medium.