Review of <i>Transparent Designs: Personal Computing and the Politics of User-Friendliness</i>, by Michael L. Black

The book follows an intricate history of computing that hinges its thesis on the to a word ‘transparency’ as method in field engineering is meant make invisible what otherwise always working within computer. For author, rendering computation transparent reveals inherent politics notion user-friendliness. contribution Black makes tracing principle transparency pre-history graphical user interface. question this comes back over and again remains: how can design ideals constitute user-friendly interactions between humans computers be subverted? helps reader see has been designed hidden. In revealing principles baked into our everyday use at least traced framed past, we are able move towards intervention would constitute, puts it, “an unfriendly future.”