What do you consider to be the characteristics of a strongly interactive system?
Building off of the author’s example of interactivity using a conversation (listening, thinking, and speaking), I would say for a system to be strongly interactive, the user has to intentionally cause this ‘interaction.’ I would also argue that the interaction should be something new or different to be a strong interactive system, for instance, pressing a button for the doorbell could be on the same level as the refrigerator light since it’s not a new idea. The user does it without really thinking about it. So by contrast, I would say games shown in the IM Showcase are good examples of a strongly interactive system as they usually use familiar forms of interaction for new situations, so for example, pressing a buzzer for a character to jump on the screen. I would say the characteristics of a strongly interactive system are 1) when there is some form of movement or change as a result of your action and 2) it is unique, unexpected, or different, i.e. done with intentionality. The more I think about this question, the more examples I think of from everyday life that I wonder whether they would be considered an interactive system.
What ideas do you have for improving the degree of user interaction in your p5 sketches?
For p5 sketches, the main way to impose user interaction are using the mouse and keyboard. So far, I’ve mostly used the mouse as a form of interaction to add some uniqueness to my sketches, and to kind of make the work not seem very 2d, but rather more interactive and allow the user to have some control. For this week, I also used the arrow buttons on the keyboard to add more interaction to my sketch (since it’s also a game). I hope to continue exploring more forms of user interaction that are unexpected and go beyond the scope of just the computer, maybe something to do with sound and hand movements. This would add a difference to the interactivity of my sketches as the user may be used to using the mouse and keyboard anyways.