To me, interaction is a continuous conversation between two or more corresponding elements that takes energy to and communication.
Within the two projects that my group and I researched, what triggered my understanding of interaction the most was the project by Aaron Sherwood called “Firewall.” Within this project, Sherwood created an “interactive” design where an individual must touch the backdrop in order for it to interact with them. The project would then start playing its own music according to the motions and movements it felt. This project was the perfect definition of interaction because it showed a continuous corresponding action of input and output when an individual communicates with technology. At the same time, the project itself would still run on its own, not in need of another individual to interact with it.
The other project we researched was just an Arduino based program called “Click Canvas.” This was basically just a variety of lights that would turn on once someone clicked or tapped it. This did not suit my definition of interaction because this project would just be sitting there doing nothing unless someone decided to play with it. Whereas “Firewall” would still run by itself, not in need of a person, if it wanted to.
My group and I created the Body Sensor which would sense a person’s body temperature and adjust the AC/Heat in the house. This fit with our definition because it would just be an ongoing circle of events whenever a person’s body temperature is changing, so would the house AC/Heat. The body sensor would be able to fully operate on its own as well, not needing the person to control what it is doing. This fits with our definition of interaction because whether or not the person is giving an input, the sensor will provide an output.