This essay will attempt to look at some of the metaphors that are
commonly used in multimedia and - more generally - in Information Technology.
I propose to concentrate on three particular areas. Firstly I shall
examine what appears to be an interesting trend, in that computer metaphors have
undergone - to some extent - what might be termed a partial 'feminisation'. I
shall be examining to what extent this has occurred and suggesting some possible
reasons.
What are Metaphors?
In order to understand the significance of metaphors, it is perhaps
important to understand quite how large a part they play in human culture, no
matter what particular form that culture might take. It is a truism that all
human communication, no matter whether it is verbal, non-verbal, written or
electronic is transmitted through the use of codes, and that all such codes are
composed of signs, in which the two parts of the sign, the signifier and the
signified, are not only understood by the encoder who initiates the
transmission, but must also be understood by the decoder, who is the receiver of
the communication. Thus, on a simplistic level, not only must the geographer who
designs a map be familiar with the symbol denoting a church (+), but so too must
the hapless motorist on the way to a country wedding. A failure to recognise the
sign of the part of the receiver would lead to aberrant decoding and a failure
of communication. It would, in this particular example, lead to a missed wedding
and embarrassed explanations.
Yet even in this simple example, a metaphor is operating, for the symbol
for the church is not a random selection of one of the infinite number of signs
the universe holds. Instead, it is directly related to an important icon within
the Christian religion - the cross. Thus the sign that has been selected to
represent the church also has connotations of the Christian faith that is
celebrated within its precincts.
Thus metaphors can become part of codes very easily - almost
involuntarily. A code is always arbitrary and yet is voluntarily accepted by the
community that will form the encoders and decoders. Thus any metaphors that are
chosen must have an impact that relates - at least initially - to the life
experience of the users. It is true, however, that eventually these metaphors
may well lose their connotation and become so accepted by the using community
that their metaphorical significance is lost. In literary terms, we might speak
of metaphors that have become cliches. Thus, on describing someone as 'strong as
an ox', it is rare now for anyone - whether acting as encoder or decoder - to
summon up in their minds an image of a large bull.
Codes and Boundaries
It is also possible that such a code can be learnt by another
community where the signs have no metaphorical significance, and therefore the
signs are accepted purely on the basis of their denotations and not their
connotations. Thus there is great difficulty in learning a foreign language,
where idiomatic usage can vary widely from one language to another. Thus, the
common idiom in English 'He's kicked the bucket' corresponds to the Spanish
idiom 'He has stuck out his paw', but a literal translation from one language to
the other would convey no sense of the meaning 'He has died'. This crossover
operates not only geographically but historically. An English idiom of the
Regency period, also meaning the same, 'He has stuck his spoon in the wall'
would now cause only mystification. Yet, in the same way that cliches may
persist after the connotations of the original metaphor are lost, so too can
idioms. Thus metaphors can become an accepted part of a code to the extent where
only their denotations are used, and their connotations are forgotten almost
entirely.
This was certainly observable when discussing and researching the material
for this essay. People who use Information Technology as part of their everyday
lives were baffled by the concept of metaphors in their work, so closely had
such terms as 'mouse', 'menu' and 'file' become bound up with computer jargon.
Yet when the connotations of these words were pointed out, they became
fascinated. Indeed, it can become something of a parlour game to spot the
metaphors that lurk on the most innocuous of screens!
It is certainly true that metaphors play a considerable part in the
formulation of computing techniques, interactive technology and multimedia. A
consideration of why this should be will be examined in the next section.
Making it 'user-friendly'
From the early days of popular
use of personal computers, a major motivation for the designers of software
applications has been to make their products 'user-friendly'. Initially, of
course, this had to be achieved primarily through text - although even here the
arrangement of textual cues (themselves a form of icon) on the screen was of
crucial importance in promoting ease of use.
Perhaps the major breakthrough was the possibility of using visual icons
in place of textually-based references. This was achieved with the increased
power of the silicon chip allowing a greater visual sophistication during the
mid-1980s, and it is this development that has continued, with modifications of
varying degrees of importance, to the present day.
There are obvious variations between different systems, notably MAC and
Microsoft/IBM, but the fundamental concept of visual icons to represent
different applications is a constant, As is the use of visual icons to represent
such things as the position of the mouse on the screen, the availability of an
interactive option, or the fact that an application is in progress (represented
by the clock item on a MAC and an hourglass icon in Microsoft Windows). Many of
these individual icons are, in fact, metaphors which relate to concepts beyond
the screen, and, in addition, these visual icons may, to some extent, appear
random in that different types of metaphor may be combined in a single screen.
Thus, if we look at the standard Microsoft Windows Programme Manager screen, we
are aware of metaphors linked to the office, such as files and filing cabinets,
notepads and filofaxes, luggage labels and telephones.
Windows and the 'Look'
However, underlying these overt visual metaphors are a series of metaphors
more linked to a domestic world. The concept of 'windows' itself suggests not
only the office window, but the window of the home, the secure centre that
offers a view of the outside world - and a possibility of entering that world.
It is possible that in some senses the window could be regarded as a feminine
metaphor, as a window exists to be looked at and looked through - in other words
it serves a similar function as the cinema screen in attracting the 'look', in
the sense that contemporary cinematic theorists have analysed, notably Laura
Mulvey on her seminal essay Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975).
This school of feminist-psychoanalytical theory argues that, in the classic
Hollywood film, the 'look' is always gender-specific, reflecting and
perpetuating the values of 'a world ordered by sexual imbalance'. In simple
terms, within a patriarchal society, the 'looker' is masculine; the object of
the 'look' is feminine.
This can certainly be linked with contemporary discourse on notions of
gender in the realm of new technology. Thus, Bill Nichols (in The work
of art in the age of cybernetic systems - Screen Vol.29 No.1,
1988) suggests that, in the realm of computer interaction, we have moved beyond
the 'look', but replaced it with another masculine concept:
A (predominantly masculine) fascination with control of simulated
interactions replaces a (predominantly masculine) fascination with the
to-be-looked-at-ness of a projected image.
Computer Metaphors and Feminine Experience
Yet, in opposition to this suggestion of male dominance, other
metaphors present on the Program Manager screen seem also linked to a
feminine-conceived worlds of experience. The concept of 'menus' suggests not
only restaurants, but also the task of providing food - a task traditionally
assigned to women. This is surely re-enforced by the Microsoft Windows hourglass
item. Archaic now as a measure of time, it is most commonly and
non-metaphorically found in the egg-timer - another aspect of food provision. In
the MAC system (now adopted by Windows 95), there is, in addition, the
'Wastebasket', iconically represented as a 'trash-can' or 'dustbin' where
unwanted material can be discarded. This too is firmly linked to domestic
iconography.
Indeed, whatever form these icons take, many of them do seem linked to a
feminine-conceived world of experience. Thus many of the business-linked icons
of the Program Manager screen are actually related to jobs that have been
traditionally undertaken by women, such as filing, making telephone calls and
taking dictation.
Is this deliberate? There is certainly an argument that such screens were
designed to be used by a largely female workforce in secretarial roles, and
therefore the design of screens drew upon their likely life experiences in
making the screen user-friendly. This is a pleasant idea, but seems a little
unlikely. Secretaries were using such non-visual icon based applications as
WordPerfect with every appearance of competence. Why, therefore, would the
change-over to visual icons necessitate such a determined 'feminisation'? It is
hard to resist the suggestion that, in this context, images are psychologically
linked to images of earlier security. By using metaphors that link the user to
early experiences of home, there is a familiarity that inspires confidence. Yet
even this does not explain the more secretarial-linked metaphors.
It's a Man's World in Programming
Not all the metaphors on the Program Manger screen appear to be quite
so gender specific. Many can be seen as gender-neutral. However, there is one
very interesting exception, which is quite revealing. This is the icon for the
programming language, Microsoft Basic. Here the icon is linked to the idea of
the toolbox, the do-it-yourself equipment of a hammer, a chisel and a spanner.
It is perhaps a little grotesque to think of such elements being used in
programming. But the icon is clearly masculine-oriented, the world of
do-it-yourself being seen as much the male prerogative as domestic work is the
female. It seems to suggest that while many of the applications are targeted at
females, or are gender-neutral, the act of programming is a male preserve, where
tough men work at physically demanding tasks.
Out of the attic; into the living room
As an attempt to preserve masculine dominance, the symbol may
seem something of a last ditch stand in the feminisation of metaphors. It is,
perhaps, interesting in this context to consider what has been perceived as the
'feminisation' of an earlier twentieth century medium, the radio. In his essay,
Archaeologies of electronic vision and the gendered spectator (Screen
Vol.35 No.2, Summer 1994), William Body has traced the history of this medium as
it moved from the territory of the young male in the attic to the centre of the
family home in the living room. The language of the earlier critiques is
amusingly familiar - fears that young boys were destroying their physical health
and sacrificing social opportunities to spend time alone 'fishing' (see Note
1 below) with their radio sets is all too similar to the worries about
computer games in the last ten years. The patronising language applied to the
change in radio when women became a large-scale audience is familiar too, and
one wonders whether a similar change will occur when women become seen as a
target audience for the new technologies such as multimedia.
This may already be happening. A recently launched magazine, Easy
PC, is promoting its product using one of the classic advertising
formats, one almost as venerable as the notorious 2CK (see Note 2 below). The
format chosen is clearly aimed at female consumers. The man is shown to be an
idiot in practical matters, the woman calm and in control of domestic matters.
The psychology of the advert is that, by the advertisers showing her
superiority, the woman will be encouraged to buy the product. This format was
famously used in the Oxo - Life With Katie cycle of
advertisements in the 1960s, but has resurfaced again and again, as in the
famous Persil - Skinhead ad. In the Easy PC ad,
the 'mother' of the family is a neutral but wise commentator, who describes the
ineptitude of her husband and the competence of, tellingly, her daughter, which
has been resolved by the purchase of the magazine. This is fascinating in that
the use of the rather old-fashioned format makes it stridently clear that a new
female market is being sought by the publishers.
The academic response
One interesting aspect of this whole matter is the comparative
lack of interest in the use of metaphors displayed by academic critiques of
electronic media. Most of the standard writers on the subject (who are largely
male), such as Boulter and Landow, have hailed the innovations of hypermedia as
an opportunity for new definitions of Western culture and masculinity, a fresh
opportunity to break away from what has been seen as the stultifying, passive
'feminine' force of twentieth century media such as television. Drawing heavily
on the works of European artists and philosophers (again largely male) such as
Barthes, Foucault and Derrida, Boulter (in Writing Space: The Computer,
Hypertext and the History of Writing, Lawrence Erblaum Associates,
1991), has argued that television is passive and so represents a 'feminine'
medium. As John Palattella has put it (in Formatting Patrimony: The
Rhetoric of Hypertext):
the fear of television is simultaneously expressed as a fear of
femininization. Television viewing engenders a preconceived feminine role
because it induces passivity, and so it alienates the viewer from the active
semiosis of literacy.
In contrast, the options of hypertext are seen as restoring a masculinity
to the screen. William Body (ibid.) has commented:
What is striking about the diverse discourse addressing the range of new
electronic imaging technologies is the claim that they promise to remake or
destroy conventional television: to transform the scorned and degraded
television set into a good cultural object; to reinvest the pacifying, even
feminizing (in)activity of consuming television with fantasies of (masculine)
agencies and power; even to reinvigorate US national will and industrial potency
in the process.
Indeed, sometimes it appears that the whole possibilities of new media are
being too narrowly defined as male-specific, as Sally Tinsdale has put it (in
It's been real, Esquire, April 1991):
There is something terribly familiar about the flying pillars and smashed
television sets, something smacking of comic books and Saturday morning
cartoons. ... Here is a technology with massive power, stuck in the tiny
paradigm of the white American male.
It might therefore be seen as an interesting subversion of the glowing
vision of the brave re-discovery of the masculine ethos offered by the new
technologies that, lying at the very heart of the 'bachelor pad' (as John
Palattella [ibid.] has it), are so many icons representing metaphors that bring
us back to the comforting connotations of 'Mom and apple-pie'.
Note 1: It is interesting that the slang term for scanning the airwaves was
'fishing', whereas the slang term for scanning the Internet is 'surfing'. Both
are water-based hobbies and, more interestingly in this context, both are seen
as predominantly male hobbies!
Note 2: This obscene piece of advertising slang - 'Two c****s in a
kitchen, refers to the advertising format where two women in a domestic
situation discuss the benefits of the product being advertised. This format had
a long history until it was mercifully parodied into comparative obscurity in
the 1980s.