Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Interactivity is regarded as one of the most critical concepts in new media theories due to the increasing popularity of interactive media such as the →  Internet , computer games, and computer-mediated communication (CMC) media (→  Video Games ; Human–Computer Interaction ). Despite the explosion of theoretical discussions on the concept of interactivity, a precise explication of the concept is yet to be accomplished. As a result, this concept often implies different things to different people in different contexts. Three main views of interactivity – technology-oriented, communication-setting-oriented, and individual-oriented views – can be categorized from the previous literature. First, technology-oriented views regard interactivity as a characteristic of new technologies (usually containing a computer as a component) that makes an individual's participation in a communication setting possible and efficient. For example, Steuer (1992 , 84) defines interactivity as “the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real time,” and argues that interactivity is a stimulus-driven variable determined by three technological structures of the medium: speed (the rate at which input can be assimilated into the mediated environment), range (the number of possibilities for action at any given time); and mapping (the ability of ... log in or subscribe to read full text