New media or new interfaces: The concept of interface in Lev Manovich's' theory of new media

Abstract

The subject of this text is Lev Manovich's concept of the interface, as it is formulated in his influental book The Language of New Media. Manovich uses the term cultural interface to denote different ways of representation of digital objects of culture in the modern era. In his opinion, the ways of representation of cultural objects are not unique and inherent to specific material form, due to the more than one possible technolgical method of its representation. Critically analyzing this thesis, the author of this article suggests that Manovich's notion of interface dabbles the traditional notion of the media, as a means or material of artistic expression. The author considers Manovich's semiological approach, in which the computer interface is defined as 'the code' and argues the need for a new non-semiotic theoretical framework in which the interface would be postulated as an important epistemological concept which can be used for a much needed reconceptualization of the media theory.