“Interaction”
As Christ Crawford states in his book, “interactivity is one of the buzzterms of the times and as such is much abused. (1)” What is interaction? From my perspective, interaction needs to be defined from several aspects instead of simply as a sentence.
First, interaction is a two-way event that requires two objects to affect each other(Wikipedia). More specifically, one needs to input, process, and output information. It is passed to the other object. And they do the same, like a conversation(5).
Second, interaction involves independence, which means that when interacting, one doesn’t interrupt the processing(“Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, Then Shut up and Listen.” ). The artifact “Arche-Scriptures” by Alberto Harres better exemplifies the concept(“Arche-Scriptures – Our Digital Traces in the Future-Past.” ). By setting up a future-past scene, the artist showcases what they want to convey with every method but speaking directly, leaving the freedom of interpretation to the audience. One can listen to the machine engraving and retrieving the sound of the text on ceramics, and reflect on the relation of the future and the past.
Third, in order to lead the other object to think independently, one must provide in-depth, but not esoteric information. Another example of “Eternal Blue‘” from University of Maastricht (“Eternal Blue – Invisible Digital Dimensions of Reality”), however, contradicts with the concept. The art device is highly condensed in information, and a thorough explanation needs to be included for the counterpart to understand this memorial to a severe cyberattack against the university, which would spoil the independence.
Crawford, Chris. “WHAT EXACTLY IS INTERACTIVITY?” The Art of Interactive Design: A Euphonious and Illuminating Guide to Building Successful Software, June 2002, No Starch Press, San Francisco, 2003.
“Interaction.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Sept. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction. Accessed 21 Sept. 2022.
Crawford, Chris. “WHAT EXACTLY IS INTERACTIVITY?” The Art of Interactive Design: A Euphonious and Illuminating Guide to Building Successful Software, June 2002, No Starch Press, San Francisco, 2003.
Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, et al. “Making Interactive Art: Set the Stage, Then Shut up and Listen.” Hello, 22 Aug. 2012, https://www.tigoe.com/blog/category/physicalcomputing/405/.
Visnjic, Filip. “Arche-Scriptures – Our Digital Traces in the Future-Past.” CreativeApplications.Net, 1 Aug. 2022, https://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/arche-scriptures-our-digital-traces-in-the-future-past/.
Visnjic, Filip. “Eternal Blue – Invisible Digital Dimensions of Reality.” CreativeApplications.Net, 4 July 2022, https://www.creativeapplications.net/js/eternal-blue-invisible-digital-dimensions-of-reality/.