The definition of interactive has always been a big mystery for me. I spent a lot of time trying to touch the vague boundary of interaction.Through this semester’s learning process, my definition of interaction has changed a lot with my further exploring in the field of IMA. The reading “The Art of Interaction Design” is the first critical article I have read that significantly refreshed my previous understanding of “Interactive”. The conversation that Crawford talks about is not like the conversation between human beings with human languages but conversation based on the programming and codes. And it is the codes that help human to control the device and the device to react. What’s more, the author also used vivid metaphor to state that in order to form a successful act, actors need to listen to others’ words and then consider it before giving response. This three-step interaction of listening, understanding and responding gave me a concept of interaction for the first time.
The first project I chose to compare with my understanding of “interaction” is the “100% Chair” actually doesn’t fit my definition of interaction. The chair is designed for Algorithmic Landscapes, however, it reflects on the reality itself without interaction with human beings. It is more like a multifunctional smart vehicle than an interactive project. The second subject I chose is “Anti-Drawing Machine”. The machine allows either a disrupted or collaborative drawing by manipulating the rotation and position of an ordinary paper material. It stays at a very balanced point between disruption and collaboration, trying to be both at the same time. Though there is no actual use in our everyday life and seems a bit ridiculous, the action of destroying the artwork after getting the information from human beings is undoubtedly a kind of interaction. More importantly, this kind of interaction offered by this “Anti-Drawing Machine” brought about fun to the participants.
For the projects made by arduino and processing, most of them are actually not very useful, but it does brought about fun and the experience of achievement. And with the more advanced code, we are able to create create our project more easily than the original ones. So interactive also brings convenience to our everyday life.
So from my perspective, the existence of interaction requires at least two objects giving and receiving information of a certain language and giving feedback to each other through a serious of the process so as to achieve some kind of goal. Last but not least, fun and convenience are also critical elements of interaction.