ABSTRACT

Interactivity is now a familiar and overused word in the everyday language of digital media, which for some theorists renders it vague and unhelpful (Manovich 2001:55), while others (Grau 2003:343) recognise interactivity as a defining feature of how artists have used technology. It is hard to ignore, let alone dismiss a discussion of interactivity, because there is not as yet another term, or even concept to describe how the user is ‘positioned’ in the human—computer interface (HCI), and because interactivity focuses attention on the engagement of the user of computer mediated communication. Interactivity is also a central concept in the further development and design of all graphical user interfaces (GUI), and is therefore central to computer architecture and computer design. In addition interactivity is an important concept because of the comparison it provokes with previous media communication, encouraging new thinking about old media. Because interactivity has become one of the naturalised everyday terms of digital media it has currency across a wide range of practices and productions. Interactivity is common to any discussion of the computer user experience and hence the design and development of both the physical and metaphorical interface with the computer and the data it allows us to access.