interaction

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Artist Gary Schott refers to his work as interactive (3:00), this is because the audience must engage with his sculptures for them to act in the intended way. This is in agreement with the statement; "now she has to work, to speak, in order to see" Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media (2001). But, it does not allow for the user to interact in a meaningful way. The lever only has one possible action which means that the object can only respond in the one predetermined way and so does not satisfy the guide stated by Cameron. Does this make it fair to say this work should not be considered interactive?

The Oxford Dictionary defines Interaction as:
reciprocal action or influence

This means that anything that reacts to an action put on it could qualify as being interactive. However, there are a wide range of opinions on where the line should be drawn as to what is and is not interactive.

In his essay, Dissimulations (1996), Andy Cameron states that, "interactivity means the ability to intervene in a meaningful way within the representation itself" this would mean that only design where the user is able to alter the final outcome can be deemed interactive.

Narrative can be defined as either Perfective or Imperfective which helps to determine whether something is/isn't interactive.

Perfective
When the story is already created and all that is left for the audience is to follow through it. The user views the situation from the outside, this is contradictory to the idea of interactivity.

Imperfective
When only the framework is provided, this allows the user to fill it in with details of their choosing. The user is placed into an ongoing situation.

This, however, is not a completely indisputable guide and there is still a lot of room for interpretation as to which category something should be placed.

Cameron states that narrative and interactive are two completely unconnected concepts; "The interactive story implies a form which is not that of narrative".

However in studying fairy tales, scholar Vladimir Propp, noted that by examining the basic actions within the stories it is possible to deconstruct and group the actions into plot elements. This suggests that even though these stories have been established it is possible to make fairy tales interactive by providing only the framework for the story and allowing the audience to create the content.

When discussing narrative the following terms apply:

Tense
a reference to a moment in time, past/present/future.

Aspect
a form that expresses the way in which time is denoted, perfective,imperfective.

Interaction allows choice. By placing the audience in the same tense as the content which means they are able to alter how to navigate through the situation.