In the current digital age, interaction is becoming more and more popular. People often see this word on social media. But what actually is interaction?
First of all, to discover the accurate meaning of this word, we need to google the definition of this verb. “Interaction is a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect. Closely related terms are interactivity and interconnectivity, of which the latter deals with the interactions of interactions within systems: combinations of many simple interactions can lead to surprising emergent phenomena.z Interaction has different tailored meanings in various sciences.”(Wikipedia）In short, interaction is mostly like a feedback system that happens between two objects(or human and object or more. To further explain the meaning of interaction, I prefer to explain this word in generalized and narrow two perspectives.
In a generalized sense, interaction is everywhere in life.
We get into the elevator and press the button to express our need for the elevator, and send information to the computer.
Watch the change of scene of the animation in the movie, search on the Internet, pay with PayPal, etc.As long as we, as individuals, transmit information outwards through certain actions and the transmitted object receives and gives feedback, it is an interaction in a certain sense. This feedback can the process of hearing, smell, touch, and taste to communicate. In this case, I’d like to use some projects which I’ve searched online that were claimed they are “interactive art projects“. (Interactive litter bins: Environmental design, interactive design, street marketing. Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2022,) This is an “interactive” litter bin which I think doesn’t conform to my fundamental principles. Step one: we regard passerby as the subjective, litter as the objective. Step two: the passerby uses cigarettes as the medium to transmit their ideas that which one of these two options is the best player. But there isn’t have any feedback from the litter which means that this is not actually an interactive art project.
In a narrow sense, interaction is the interaction between computer systems and humans.
Take the AR glasses for example. In the first stage, humans are the subject of interaction and the glass is the object of interaction. In the second stage, the hand shank and camera are the interactive media of the system. As the subject of interaction, people make actions to the hand shank and camera to transfer information to the computer. In the third stage, the computer program of glass, as the interaction object and feedback subject, gives feedback to the information transmitted by the media and is received by people. As this project exactly conforms to my principles, I think this is an “interaction art project“.
Then what is interactive design, What is the special part compared with conventional design?
Instead of designing objects in the traditional sense, designers of interaction design are more concerned with designing a pattern of behavior. Although designers also need things, he uses them as a medium to realize his behavior. " Creating and Supporting Human Activities" through the mediating influence of products (Richard Buchanan, 1990). Through the feedback system, the human’s active behavior is put into the feedback
system and the corresponding information feedback is obtained. So just as the description in Making Interactive Arts, an interaction designer’s product is more like a performance. Complete the work through the reaction and interaction of the audience to complete the whole work
（Professor Richard Buchanan）