An example of Digital Fractology
(NB: I think it ironic that I was about to add this post to the blog when I allowed a Microsoft update to execute. It has crashed my computer – this is being created and posted in safe mode. More on the outcome of this at a later date)
After sharing my last entry with several colleagues several points are in need of clarification when considering Digital Fractology.
First and foremost, the conversation is not about something that has become broken, but rather, about something that is broken by design. I am not talking about a flat tire, but about a square tire. Examples of such technologies are all too prevalent, and over the past few days I have begun collecting things that I believe fit the definition. I present one of them here as illustration of the concept.
Lately, a number of web sites have taken to embedding Microsoft Bing searches into article text in the event you might need to look up strange and unfamiliar terms like "Barak Obama" or "Ronald Reagan." The result is an incredibly intrusive popup that leaps into the field of view, blotting out the text you were actually reading. A search on "annoying Bing pop ups" yields several hundred thousand results. A quick review of some of the top results reveals that, among other things, the pop ups frequently crash the browser. Many of the users were also angry with Microsoft for creating this situation, but the solution, to change a cookie setting on the browser, is neither immediate nor obvious. I suspect that most users will simply learn to live with the situation, and either accept that useless search terms will intrude on their reading, or else they will learn how to move their cursor out the way of these inadvertent annoyances. Either case is unacceptable, but is also a perfect example of Digital Fractology.
If you have an example of something you consider DF, please post it below. I am curious to see if other people are experiencing this. In the coming days I will post additional examples.
R
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