Interactive Digital Media

Multimedia Information Systems
Interactive Media and Interaction Styles

Part 1
Interactive media
David Lamas, ULP, 2010

Contents
 Etymology
 Essential characteristics
 The environmental thesis and the anti-deterministic view
 Technology acceptance models
 Digital natives and digital immigrants
The Millennials
 Innovation adoption stages
 A look into the future
 Related careers

The humanities
 1978
Computing in the humanities is a field dominated by amateurs,
in the best sense of this word. Nothing forces a critic to put
texts on a computer; no composer is compelled to seek the
aid of a machine; even the programmers employed on this
kind of project are likely to be there by inclination rather
than by accident. Economic motives are also largely
absent: in general, nobody makes or saves money by using
computers for such applications, and only occasionally can
the machine save time.

Immersed
 2010
Interactive technologies are all around us…
Paying bills
Buying food
Fueling our cars
Opening doors
Global positioning systems
Closed-circuit television
Electronically recorded transactions
Mobile phones
Social networks
Information rivers

Immersed
 2010
Touch and multi-touch displays

Immersed
 2010
Augmented reality

Immersed
 2010
Ambient intelligence

Interactive media
 Inter
Among, between
 Action
The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an
aim
 Media
The plural form of medium, an agency or means of doing
something, something we use to communicate with

Interactive media
 Interactive media is…
The integration of digital media including combinations of
electronic text, graphics, moving images, and sound, into a
structured digital computerized environment that allows
people to interact with the data for appropriate purposes
Related to products and services on digital computer-based
systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting
content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio,
etc…
 Interactive media…
allows users to participate and edit the content

Interactive media
 But some argue that interactive media is not…
limited to electronic media or digital media
They include board games, pop-up books and flip might be
also considered examples of printed interactive media
Some will even argue that books with a simple table of
contents or index may be considered interactive due to the
non-linear control mechanism in the medium…

Interactive media
 And interactive media is not…
New media
On one hand, interactive media enables the dynamic life of
the new media content and its interactive relationship with
the prosumers
On the other, interactive media might just be use to “update”
older media

Essential characteristics
 Interactive media retains some of the qualities of both
artistic media and mass media
However, the very nature of these older media forms has been
subjected to change by the qualities of computing devices
 With the relationship between old and new interactive
media in mind
It is important to establish the fundamental characteristics of
which aspects of old media still apply to interactive media
and more importantly, what is new about interactive media

 The technological convergence of multiple media
Intermedia
Multimedia
hypermedia
Generative content creation
 The digitization, abstraction and simulation of old media
Increased fidelity
Quality of representation
Non-linearity
Immediacy
 The interactive authoring and interpretation of meaning
Interaction with and through the enabling technology
Relating production and interpretation

 The fact is that…
Interactive media is changing the way in which we relate to our
surroundings by changing the nature of the media that we
are already familiar with
One should ask, how do we establish what these changes
and the resulting characteristics of interactive media are?
But today, we will only try to further elaborate on the
environmental thesis versus the anti-deterministic view
problem

The environmental thesis
 For McLuhan (1967) we are metaphorically fish that are
unaware of the mediating water that surrounds us
Fish of course, having evolved to be perfectly adapted to the
life in the medium of water, are not aware of its existence
Water is the ecological niche into which they were born into

The anti-deterministic view
 For Williams (1974) it is human agency and the activities
of societies and cultures that affect the nature of
technology, not the other way around
In this case…
Technology is always developed with some human need or
intention in mind
It is aimed at solving some problem or improving some pre-
existing social situation
People are always in control of its development

Technology acceptance model
Davis F. D. 1989. Perceived usefulness,
perceived ease of use, and user
acceptance of information technology.
MIS Quartely, 13/1989, pp. 319–339.

Extension of the acceptance model
Venkatesh, V. and Davis, F. D. 2000.
Theoretical extension of the Technology
Acceptance Model: Four longitudinal field
studies. Management Science, 46: 2, pp.
186–204.

Unified theory of acceptance and use
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B.
and Davis, F. D. 2003. User acceptance of
information technology: Toward a unified
view. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27. No. 3,
September, pp. 425–478.

Basic acceptance model concepts
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B.
and Davis, F. D. 2003. User acceptance of
information technology: Toward a unified
view. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27. No. 3,
September, pp. 425–478.

Digital natives
 Digital natives grew up using digital technology, and
they’re often acting as guides for digital immigrants
They are typically Millennials
http://abm.typepad.com/mediapace/2008/07/index.html

Millennials?
 Also named…
Generation Now
has been used as well to reflect the urge for instant-
gratification that technology has imparted
Computer Generation
Generation D
for Digital
Generation M
for Millennium or Multi-Task
Net Gen
a shortened form of Net Generation

Millennials?
 Some interesting facts…
97% own a computer
94% own a cell phone
76% use Instant Messaging
15% of IM users are logged on 24/7
34% use Web sites as their primary source of news
28% own a blog and 44% read blogs
49% download music using peer-to-peer file sharing
75% of college students have a Facebook account
60% own some type of portable music or video device such as
an iPod

Digital immigrants
 Digital immigrants like their information delivered in a
linear, logical sequence, but digital natives prefer
random access to hyperlinked information
They already entered the digital world as adults

Innovation adoption stages
Rogers, E. M. 1995. The diffusion of
innovations. Fourth edition. New
York. Free Press.

 Innovators
Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation.
Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the
highest social class, have great financial lucidity, very social
and have closest contact to scientific sources and
interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has them
adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial
resources help absorb these failures.
Rogers, E. M. 1962. Diffusion of Innovations. Glencoe: Free Press.

 Early Adopters
This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an
innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of
opinion leadership among the other adopter categories.
Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher
social status, have more financial lucidity, advanced
education, and are more socially forward than late
adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than
innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help
them maintain central communication position.

 Early Majority
Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying
degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer
than the innovators and early adopters. Early Majority tend
to be slower in the adoption process, have above average
social status, contact with early adopters, and seldom hold
positions of opinion leadership in a system.

 Late Majority
Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the
average member of the society. These individuals approach
an innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the
majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late Majority
are typically skeptical about an innovation, have below
average social status, very little financial lucidity, in contact
with others in late majority and early majority, very little
opinion leadership.

 Laggards
Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation.
Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this
category show little to no opinion leadership. These
individuals typically have an aversion to change-agents and
tend to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend to be
focused on “traditions”, have lowest social status, lowest
financial fluidity, oldest of all other adopters, in contact with
only family and close friends, very little to no opinion
leadership.

Innovation adoption chasm
Moore, G. A. 1999. Crossing the
Chasm. Second Edition. Capstone
Publishing, Oxford.

A look into the future
 Five powerful trends
Most growth in the interactive media market will occur outside of
today’s high income, or “advanced,” economies
Global governance of the Internet will remain substantially
unchanged
Digital natives will relate to the Internet in markedly different ways
than earlier generations
The QWERTY keyboard will not be the primary interface with the
Internet
Consumers will pay for Internet connectivity in a much wider range
of ways
(with flat pricing a rarity)
Monitor Global Business Network and Cisco. 2010. A Look Ahead to 2025 by Cisco and Monitor's Global Business Network.

 Three areas of uncertainty
Will broadband network build-out be extensive as a result of the
combined effect of private and public investment, or more
limited?
Will technological progress be characterized more by
breakthroughs or mostly represent incremental advances?
Will user behavior, including the appetite for ever-richer
interactive media applications, lead to demand growth
being unbridled or more constrained?

 Four possible scenarios
Fluid frontiers
A world in which the Internet becomes pervasive and
centrifugal
Technology continues to make connectivity and devices
more and more affordable, in spite of limited investment in
network build-out, while global entrepreneurship and fierce
competition ensure that the wide range of needs and
demands from across the world are met quickly and from
equally diverse setups and locations

Insecure growth
A world in which users, individuals and business alike, are
inhibited from intensive reliance on the Internet
Relentless cyber attacks driven by wide-ranging motivations
defy the preventive capabilities of governments and
international bodies
Secure alternatives emerge, but they are expensive

Short of the promise
A frugal world in which prolonged economic stagnation in
many countries takes its toll on the spread of the Internet
Technology offers no compensating breakthroughs, and
protectionist policy responses to economic weakness make
matters worse both in economic terms and with regard to
network technology adoption

Bursting at the seams
A world in which the Internet becomes a victim of its own
success
Demand for IP-based services is boundless, but capacity
constraints and occasional bottlenecks create a gap
between the expectations and reality of Internet use
Meanwhile, international technology standards don’t come
to pass, in part because of a global backlash against
decades of U.S. technology dominance

Related careers
http://www.skillset.org/interactive/careers/

Related careers
http://www.skillset.org/interactive/careers/
Where the bars fade out, this indicates that career
progression usually requires moving into a different
role at this point - typically to one that is adjacent
or nearby on the diagram above
Where the bars do not fade out, this indicates that
career progression is possible within the role, with
increasingly senior positions usually being
available

Interactive media recap
 Etymology
 Essential characteristics
 The environmental thesis and the anti-deterministic view
 Technology acceptance models
 Digital natives and digital immigrants
The Millennials
 Innovation adoption stages
 A look into the future
 Related careers

One final question
 So… do we drive or are we driven by the development of
interactive media?
Does any of the initially presented models prevail?
Does the answer depend on our digital citizenship status?

Product life cycle

Part II
Interaction styles

Contents
 Etymology
 The relation between the evolution of computing and
the main interaction styles
 The technological hype cycle and adoption timings
 Related knowledge domains
 Beyond interacting with digital media

Personal computing
 1978
It is generally thought that a computer must cost under USD
1000.00 to have mass-market appeal. A machine at that
price today is a minimal computer system. It has as little as
8KB of user memory, uses audio cassettes for mass storage,
and has a CRT display for output. Today’s computer is
programmed in BASC. Small amounts of application
software are available on cassettes.

Data storage
 1978
A new approach to storing data in computers, using a tunable
dye laser, is described in US Patent 4,101,976 awarded to
scientists at IBM’s San Jose Research Laboratory. Based on a
photochemical process called ‘hole burning’, the new
system provides a unique method for increasing the amount
of information that can be packed into a given space.

Mobile computing
 1994
Recent advances in technology have provided portable
computers with wireless interfaces that allow networked
communication even while a user is mobile. Whereas
today’s first-generation notebook computers and personal
digital assistants are self-contained, networked mobile
computers are part of a greater infrastructure. Mobile
computing will very likely revolutionize the way we use
computers.

Interaction styles
 Inter
Among, between
 Action
the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim
 Interaction
Reciprocal action or influence
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
 Style
A manner of doing something
A way of painting, a way of writing…
A way of interacting

Interaction styles
 In our case…
Ways of interacting with and through interactive media
Ways of communicating with and by means of computerized
environments

The evolution of computing
Waldner, J-B. 2007. Nano-
informatique et intelligence
ambiante: inventer l'ordinateur du
XXIe siècle. Hermes Science
Publications, 2007

Main interaction styles
 Command line interfaces
 Graphical user interfaces
 Natural user interfaces

Physical programming
In the beginning it was
all about interacting
with the computer

Card punching and reading
Batch processing

A teletypewriter
The birth of the Command
Line Interface

Early graphic workstation
An initial Graphic
User Interface

A mouse prototype
Invented by
Douglas Engelbart

A video-display unit
The oN-Line System
featuring a display,
a keyboard and mouse

The oN-Line System
 …or the Augmentation of Human Intellect
A system envisioned by Douglas Engelbart, to help Increasing the
capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation,
to gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and to derive
solutions to problems
Increased capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of
the following: more-rapid comprehension, better
comprehension, the possibility of gaining a useful degree of
comprehension in a situation that previously was too complex,
speedier solutions, better solutions, and the possibility of finding
solutions to problems that before seemed insolvable
Complex situations we include the professional problems of
diplomats, executives, social scientists, life scientists, physical
scientists, attorneys, designers--whether the problem situation
exists for twenty minutes or twenty years…
http://www.dougengelbart.org/pubs/augment-3906.html

The oN-Line System
 The system was called oN-Line System, because it was
also networked between multiple computers
Computers were no longer isolated
 The display system was based on vector graphics
technology and could display both text and solid lines on
the same screen
 Because of limited memory space in the mainframe
computer, it could only display upper-case characters,
although true upper-case was displayed by the use of a
short horizontal line directly above any capitalized letters

The Xerox Alto
The Alto was not a
microcomputer as such,
although its components
did fit under a desk

The Xerox Star
The Star had some
differences from the Alto,
most significantly the
ability to overlap windows
was removed as it was
thought too confusing for
the general public…

The Apple Lisa
The Lisa user interface
invented some of the
Graphical User Interface
concepts we still use
today. Icons could
represent all files in the
system and the drag and
drop was used for file

The Apple Macintosh

Other early graphic user interfaces

A graphic user interface timeline
 Examples of graphic user interface
styles are…
Menu selection
Forms fill-in
Direct manipulation
Metaphors (ie. The desktop)
Web navigation

Natural user interfaces
 …is the common designation used by designers and
developers of computer interfaces to refer to a user
interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible
with successive learned interactions, to its users
The word natural is used because most computer interfaces use
artificial control devices whose operation has to be learned
Such an interface relies on a user being able to carry out
relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they
quickly discover control the computer application or
manipulate the on-screen content

Natural user interfaces
 The most distinct identifier of a natural user interface is the
lack of a physical keyboard and or mouse
Hence, the most common examples are…
(multi-)touch interfaces; and
voice-operated interfaces
 The natural user interface removes the metaphors, and
many of the artificially learned devices, to allow users to
more directly manipulate content using more natural
movements, motions and gestures
 Enthusiast defend that these interfaces are fast to learn and,
as such, freely apply the adjective 'intuitive’ to describe how
users interact with them

Perceptive pixel

Microsoft Surface

Xbox Kinect

Natural user interfaces are… not natural
 According to Don Norman
Fundamental principles of knowledge of results, feedback, and a good
conceptual model still rule
The strength of the graphical user interface has little to do with its use of
graphics
It has to do with the ease of remembering actions, both in what actions
are possible and how to invoke them
Visible icons and visible menus are the mechanisms, and despite the
well-known problems of scaling up to the demands of modern complex
systems, they still allow one to explore and learn
The important design rule of a GUI is visibility: through the menus, all
possible actions can be made visible and, therefore, easily discoverable.
The system can often be learned through exploration
Systems that avoid these well-known methods suffer.
Are natural user interfaces natural? No, he says, but they will be useful.

Other user interfaces

Technological hype cycle
Linden, A. and Fenn, J. 2003.
Understanding Gartner's Hype
Cycles. Strategic Analysis Report R-
20-1971. 30 May 2003. Gartner
Research.

Technological hype cycle

Technological hype cycle and adoption timings
Linden, A. and Fenn, J. 2003. Understanding
Gartner's Hype Cycles. Strategic Analysis
Report R-20-1971. 30 May 2003. Gartner
Research.

Related knowledge domains
 Human-computer interaction
The study of how people interact with computers and to what
extent computers are or are not developed for successful
interaction with human beings
Recent advances in mobile, ubiquitous, social, and tangible
computing technologies have moved human-computer
interaction into practically all areas of human activity
This has led to a shift away from the usual stress on usability
to a much richer scope of user experience, where user's
feelings, motivations, and values are given as much, if not
more, attention than efficiency, effectiveness and basic
subjective satisfaction

Related knowledge domains
 Interaction design
A design discipline dedicated to defining the behavior of
artifacts, environments and systems
 User experience design
The field of user experience was established to cover the
holistic perspective to how a person feels about using a
system
The focus is on pleasure and value rather than on
performance

Human-computer interaction

Interaction design

User experience design

But…
 Interactivity is not limited to technological systems
People have been interacting with each other as long as
humans have been a species
From this broader viewpoint, reasoning about interaction
styles should also address the interaction between human
beings by means of a interactive media

Interaction styles recap
 Etymology
 The relation between the evolution of computing and
the main interaction styles
 The technological hype cycle and adoption timings
 Related knowledge domains
 Beyond interacting with digital media

Two final questions
 How do you see the evolution of interacting with and
through interactive media?
Are natural user interfaces the future or part of the future?
Are the previous interaction styles dead or condemned?
 Should mobile user interfaces be regarded as a
completely new interaction style?
If so, what would their distinctive characteristics be?

Interactive Digital Media

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