Circulatory interfaces: Perpetuating power through practices, content, and positionality

Abstract

As circulation is a type of writing that functions as a habit of citizenship, it has important ethical implications for the power element of social justice. However, the act of circulation cannot be separated from the interfaces in which it is embedded, nor can it be separated from the interfaces which circulate, as those interfaces also perpetuate and produce power dynamics. In this article, I explore the intersection of interfaces and circulation through two computer interfaces and one printed interface. Ultimately, interfaces can create normative circulatory (1) practices, (2) content, and (3) positions. They produce norms about who circulates what information and how people circulate that information. In particular, I examine the Coronavirus Communication Toolkit and the Interactive Coronavirus Prevention Flyer Builder on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's website as they created norms for circulating pre-existing content, obscured culpability, brought users into mutually transformative ideological assemblages, and maintained power relationships as secondary interfaces circulated and interpellated individuals. I end with heuristic questions for designers and suggestions for future research.