While reading Chris Crawford’s chapter on “What Exactly Is Interactivity?”, it was interesting to him use the metaphor of listening, thinking, and speaking as the foundation of interactivity. This conversational model made the concept easier to grasp because it parallels something we intuitively understand, human dialogue. However, when Crawford extended these terms into a more literal context, insisting that actors must possess intellectual ability, I found it difficult to relate to his perspective. For me, interactivity is whether one actor’s input produces a meaningful change in the other. Therefore, I found myself questioning some of Crawford’s examples. For instance, he dismisses the refrigerator light as non-interactive because it does not truly “think.” Yet I feel that even in his own terms, the refrigerator does listen and respond. When someone opens a refrigerator they are giving an input and the refrigerator is listening to it and by thinking it then turns on the light. To me, that still counts as a form of interactivity, even if it is simplistic or mechanistic.
Additionally, I agreed with several of his distinctions. His argument that reading a book is not interactive made sense: the book only “speaks,” but it does not adapt to or acknowledge the reader. The same applies to dancing: two dancers interact with each other, but the music itself is not interacting with them. These examples clarified for me the difference between experiences/ participation and genuine interaction.
Moving forward, when Crawford discussed movies, I started thinking about the children’s show Dora the Explorer. On the surface, it seems interactive because Dora asks the viewer questions. However, as Crawford would point out, the show fails at “listening.” It cannot actually register or respond to the viewer’s input, which makes the interactivity an illusion rather than reality. This helped me recognise that some systems or media may simulate interactivity without fully achieving it.
Ultimately, I interpret interactivity as a cause-and-effect relationship. If my input changes the receiver’s action, then interactivity has occurred. This perspective also ties into what we are learning in class. Functions like mousePressed() or keyPressed() are fundamental building blocks that create interactive spaces. In my Week 3 assignment, I experimented with this by coding a response to mouse clicks. Looking ahead, I want to experiment with creating interactions that are not uniform for every user but instead feel more personal and dynamic. For example, rather than coding a mouse click to always trigger the same outcome, I could design the system so that each person’s click produces a different reaction. This could be achieved by introducing elements of randomness, personalisation, or memory.