History and Aesthetics of Progress Indicators

Authors

• Felix Raczkowski University of Bayreuth
• Mary Shnayien Ruhr University Bochum https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5202-1813

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.86775

Keywords:

media aesthetics, progress indicators, HCI, work

Abstract

Progress indicators are continuously changing and modulating their originally fairly limited functions of signifying the progress of human or machinic labor in industrial or computational contexts, to the point where they appear as an aesthetic convention of measurement in popular culture and self-management. This development raises questions regarding the shifting status of digital media aesthetics in digital cultures, which this paper will address by outlining a brief media history of progress indicators, exploring some of the various functions fulfilled by them, and by discussing the implications of the shift in place, form and function of progress indicators.