This paper presentation is an interdisciplinary collaboration by four researchers at the University of Regina who are working to advance the state of the knowledge in how aesthetically represented information-in language and in visual media-is understood, mediated, and processed.
We start with the general premise that screens shape our world and identities in such ubiquitous ways that their very presence and influence are often unchallenged. In Screens: Viewing Media Installation Art, 2010, Kate Mondloch contends that the way in which we view or consume artworks made with screen interfaces has been underexplored as a system or method (xii). The challenge to create coherent frameworks or methodologies to describe how screen media create meaning has occupied a significant place in debates among new media scholars, game and interface designers. Until very recently, primacy has been placed on what happens behind the screen with a focus on the technology and software used by computer programmers and designers. It is time to redress the balance by bringing focus to bear on the screen itself and examine how images/sensations evoked on the computer screen, and this experience, create meaning with the user and evoke “the imaginary”. We will probe issues around: 1) defining parameters to develop methodologies and to construct an ontology to map the nexus between technology, aesthetics (including uses of time, space, text, font size, screen resolution, window size, etc.) and user impact/experience, and; 2) understanding and measuring the cognitive, cultural, and aesthetic experiences of screen users.