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Interface of the "Arzamas" project as a generator of user's mental representations

Научные исследования: 
Выпуски: 

 

For citation: Medvedeva A. Interface of the ‘Arzamas’ project as a generator of user`s mental representations // Mediascope. 2021. 2. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2698

DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.2.2021.1

 

© Arina R. Medvedeva

Assistant at the Chair of Journalism and Mass communications, Faculty of Journalism, Chelyabinsk State University (Chelyabinsk, Russia), arinamka@gmail.com

 

Key words: media esthetics, theory of machines, interface, semiotic complex, ‘Arzamas’

 

Abstract

In modern conditions of widespread use of digital communication as the main method of transmitting information, we can say that communication, which in a sense encrypts a message so that it can then be decoded, refers to the interface as a mediator. The interface becomes an algorithm that provides the recipient with the ability to navigate the database. This study attempts to analyze the interface of the "Journal" section of the educational project "Arzamas" in order to identify how the interface can contribute to the virtual organization of thought in the digital space.

In the space of the interface with its affordances, there is a need to analyze precisely the movement, materialization of the flow of information and its processing by the user. Therefore, within the framework of our research, we use the theory of machines, which is explained in the work of F. Guattari "Schizoanalytic Cartographies". The researcher proposed to distinguish four basic entities of any process: flows (F), machine types (Ф), universes (U) and territories (T). An important aspect is the format of mental representations: concepts, propositions, rules and analogies. The manifestation of these mental representations can be seen in four modes of interaction between dyads. Each of the mental representations represents a specific strategy for processing and presenting information.

As a result of the machine analysis of the "Journal" section of the educational project "Arzamas", the main components of the interface were identified. It was found that system features also generate meanings for the user, but these meanings are rather expressed by certain add-ons that are subconsciously captured by the user (like a meta-sense). The speed of perception of such add-ons can be explained by the phenomenon of "interface transparency". Such add-ons can be considered mental representations (analogies, propositions, rules, concepts) that help build a virtual copy of information with possible cognitive trajectories for the user.

 

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