Sommersemester 2014, BA/MA Visuelle Kommunikation
Critical Computing
Whether laptop, workstation or smartphone ‘using a computer’ today most commonly centers around the Graphical User Interface; a pictorial and programmed surface of symbols and metaphors. Designed by corporations, these GUI environments aim to be intuitive and attractive to a wide audience, abstracting over a computer‘s complex inner-functionality and easing operation. While useful in so many cases, the GUI has a very thick skin, bringing with it both hidden risks and creative limitations. In the Critical Computing Workshop participants looked ‚behind‘ the browser to understand what the Internet is and how it works. Using tools normally reserved for hackers and network engineers, they developed skills to remotely control a computer anywhere in the world using just the command line.