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“HOW-TO: Instructional Videos and the Ends of Technicity”
Disc Journal, no. 1, 2024
This is an exegesis of the instructional video—a primary means of architectural upskilling in an age of software. Gone are the days of technical textbooks and user’s guides; while these formats still exist, they are no longer the main source of procedural knowledge. In a post-D. K. Ching modality of troubleshooting over full training, users gain drawing skills by searching for solutions mid-workflow—YouTube demos, in-app tours, and user forums are the new bottomless currency of technical self-help. These new media artifacts have become quintessential postmodern resources for the hobbyist, text-weary design student, and time-poor practitioner alike. 

As individuated online learning and task-based employment become more prevalent, the learn-it-yourself media interface (and its promises of immaterial productivity and future work) becomes a site of quantified subjectivity which warrants further scrutiny.

Image from @disc.journal.




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© 2022 Amelyn Ng