interactivity
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- imakedesign
has anyone written at length/researched this? what sort of things were you looking at?
many thanks,
G
- mg330
Not much research, but I think that the word "interactive" has lost meaning over the years because it quite simply applies to EVERYTHING.
Flash sites were being called "interactive" after HTML sites had been around for years, yet if you get down to it, HTML sites are interactive just the same.
The degree of interaction and amount of value on the user experience is where I feel the word actually has it's meaning.CNN.com, in many of their articles, features "interactive" pop-up windows, yet some of them are interactive, and some are called interactive but are a static graphic: Click Interactive: National Assembly under Governing Iraq. (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/200...
Some, though, are interactive.
Scroll down to Special Report, Transition of Power on the right side of the article and click Interactive: Iraq's Population
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/me…Interactivity can by all means be as simple as a person reading something they have clicked, obviously. But I think we've taken the term and attached it to sites with loads of bells and whistles, personalized log-in features, buttons available to enhance site navigation, etc. etc.
I think also that because of really great stuff from Yugop, and even the just posted Moock site, we also might feel like true interactivity relies on a visual representation of the other viewers on a site in real time. Maybe it's just in the mind, but I guess I've always felt situations like that are more interactive because you may be "interacting" with actual people and you're not all alone. It in some ways represents a chat room, which is probably the most interactive aspect on the web.
- k770
lev manovich in his study of new media pretty much tosses 'intereactive' out the window citing that computers by nature are interactive. so the term doesn't really apply.
written in: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…
- todelete__20
my pants are interactive.
- instantok0
this book pretty much rules:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…
i like to approach it first from studying interaction with objects, physical things, and then extrapolate that to the screen...they are sort of two different sciences but the latter is very much derived from the former, which i think is the cause of many problems with digital interaction, but i get ahead of myself...
- imakedesign0
many thanks for the replies. i was thinking at looking more at how people interactw with new media, do they learn or are they taught? does the medium have a set of rules which are learnt or do they come naturally.
hmmm.. need to think this through a bit more.
- tkmeister0
read philosophy books. that may answer your question more.
it's deep, really deep, mate.
- mg330
I was just interacting with my ears a minute ago when I was cleaning them out with an unfolded paperclip.
- instantok0
my pants are interactive.
kOna
(May 10 05, 14:44)---
haha...i once had an animation teacher demonstrate a concept by shaking his hips and saying "now look at the secondary action in my pants!"
ha...priceless...i lost it
btw...HUGE topic for research and exploration...to answer your question...yes, both, and sometimes
:P
- randoman0
I agree, interactivity is somewhat lst in its meaning.
I think interface or interfacing might be better to use. It is more clear on HOW you interact which is the question.
My thoughts are that the simpler something can be while maintaining functionality, the better.
Think of ways that you interface with the real world everyday. Things that u enjoy doing usualy carry a reward, in some cases the reward is the simplicity of completing the task.
More natural ways on iterfacing with technology and content, be it static, animated or other is where I would see things headed.
In sci-fi movies like Minority Report where they show users flailing about in order to navigate information always makes me cringe.. imo its a step back from even using a mouse (wont your arms get tired after a while?).
While the technology may not be there yet, something like retraining the mind to work as an extention or interface to computer would be the best (maybe picture having like more appendages that you could trigger with the same control as say making a fist or walking).
with the tools we have now, I think that keeping the navigation area confined to a smaller area (so the user doesnt have to fish all over the place to navigate) is a good idea.
Most people will work on Information Arcitecture not s much on Interface Architecture. What is the flow from one menu structure to another? How far will the user have to move the mouse form nav 1 to nav 2 to nav 3 and so on.
- mogwai0
interactivity is overrated.
TV.
now thats hot.
- imakedesign0
excellent stuff, cheers!
i need to come up with a dissertation question, so i am glad it covers a huge area.
- imakedesign0
what about interactive tv. in the north or enlgand more people use it than the internet.
- instantok0
take a look at vannevar bush and the memex for an early (30's and 40's) conception of how a person would create and navigate a large database of information
then on to early computing devices from punchcards on through the keyboard and doug englebart for the mouse
from there you can begin to look at mcluhan for content issues and tufte for translating data into visually interpretable representations
that is super loose and there are a plethora of experts and books, papers, studies about things and stuff
- imakedesign0
cheers instantok, good stuff.
i think its going to be hard to tightnen it down to one question.
- imakedesign0
cheers instantok, good stuff.
i think its going to be hard to tightnen it down to one question.
- instantok0
it's very hard (i've written tons of papers on this crap as a former multimedia major)...my suggestion is, unless this is your thesis project and you have a year to dedicate to it, pick an element of it and talk about that
i.e. input devices (mouse, keyboard, webcam, motion sensor, wacom, etc.) as an extension of the human hand...which is probably a bad example as that is its own science and another huge topic, bah
from my experience using "the desktop metaphor" as your topic will be fascinating but you won't ever finish, at least i didn't too big :)
- mg330
When you can go to a ______ site and tell a person to ______ their _______ and bend this way and that and ______ themselves and if they have a headset microphone they can say ________ to you when you do the same think, and they actually do it in real time and even smile JUST FOR YOU...
Now that is interactivity!
(figure skating, spin, legs, twist, good luck)
Those are the missing words you sickos.
- imakedesign0
i have about six months. maybe a bit less. i was thinking about do something like that. i am interested in the icon, its universal appeal and how it conveys a large amount of information in a very small amount of space.
i wonder if the desktop metaphor is one of the reasons why we still associate the computer mainly with work and not entertainment.
- k770
but icons aren't specific to new media... or interactivity.
but your question about the desktop is very interesting..... that could be a winner. cause what if desktops were called easils, or cutting boards?
- imakedesign0
we have to relate our question to the wider world so i could look at semiotics etc..