How application software mediates creative work.

What is it about?

This chapter builds on theories of the creativity dispositif to analyse how it mediates, and is mediated by, software for creating, editing, and sharing media content. In particular, the chapter introduces the concept of ‘glut’ as a software inscription strategy and then develops a case study of media software that exemplifies the qualities of glut. It examines three ways in which this strategy is operationalised for the widely used software Adobe Photoshop: its design, its commodification as part of upgrade culture, and its instruction through a just- in-time learning platform. Through this case study, the chapter shows how technologies like media software are essential to the creativity dispositif, enabling and constraining what it means to ‘be creative’ today.

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