Pseudocode poetics: Inconvenient interactions for meaningful dumbphone games

Abstract

Pseudocode is a way for programmers to sketch out the approximate structure and processes of their software before implementation. We explore the use of pseudocode to evoke imaginary software as a way of critically addressing some of the problematic elements of smartphone usage patterns. This paper presents work-in-progress in which we select six works in pseudocode that target different aspects of smartphone usage and discuss their critical contributions: the aspects they target, how this is done and whether such pseudocode could be implemented. Future work includes creating additional pseudocode to explore further aspects of smartphone usage and possibly implementing some of it.