Chapter 23 Thoughts

The beginning of the chapter talks a little bit of defining what the difference between interactive and reactive is. I thought it was interesting because they defined it basically how I defined it earlier in the semester. I also found it interesting how they talked about television actually prevents communication with people between there is no way to interact with the media that is showing.

They define interactivity into 4 categories: Navigation, Participation, Conversation, and Collaboration. These categories are not ranked based on being better than each other just on what is more interactive than another. It will vary on the situation as to which category is best for you.

They talk a lot about CD-ROMS and how they are interactive but limited because they are still programmed and an example they use is how there really isn't a conversation that is had through the dialog in a game. This shows how this book is a little dated because since then there has been advancement in AI and I have seen examples where the computer will learn from past conversations and have new conversations based on what it has learned.

Navigation: simple things such as choosing yes or no/right, left, up, or left. What they started to describe in the Interactive Cinema section sounds to me like a game more than a movie. It definitely seems more interactive with Deep Contact with how they made it so the Zen master's dialog was backwards and how they brought the user into the space with a camera.

I also liked how they talked about the audience choosing how a movie would go. It is an interesting concept but they are right in the fact that half the audience would be disappointed because they wouldn't go the direction they wanted to go.