Defining Interactivity in terms of Remediation
In Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997) Janet Murray explores ideas of interactivity in terms of user control and participation (McMillan, 2002:164, 173). Murray considers the essential properties of digital environments to be that they are procedural, participatory spatial and encyclopedic, the first two properties composing what is usually understood by the term interactive, and the last two comprising what is meant by immersive. She notes that procedural environments are appealing not only because they display rule generated behavior but because the user can induce the behavior. She states “…the primary representational property of the computer is the codified rendering of responsive behaviors. This is what is most often meant when we say that computers are interactive”
Murray coins the term “interactor” to describe the relation of the user to a narrative in computer games… By choosing a set of alternatives from a fixed menu, the user believes he or she is collaborating in the invention (p.78-79). She distinguishes between playing a creative role in an authored environment such as in a simulation game and being author of the environment itself, describing the pleasure the interactor feels not as one of authorship but of agency (152-53). To demonstrate the difference between agency and activity Murray provides examples from different media. For the first she cites board games where the user throws dice, turns a dial or moves counters or in a digital environment clicks a mouse or moves a joystick. In both cases the player’s actions achieve an effect but these actions are not chosen by the player nor are they related to the player’s intentions. By contrast, agency occurs in a game such as chess when the player’s actions are autonomous, selected from a wide range of choices and determine the course of events.
Since Murray considers agency to go beyond participation and activity to include aesthetic pleasure, she believes that a successful digital storytelling environment needs to possess this quality. In “From Game-Story to Cyberdrama” Murray extends this notion of agency to include dramatic effect or “dramatic agency.” The examples she gives are from playing the SIMS. If altering an actor’s clothing alters the mood of a scene, or navigating from a different point of view reveals a change in physical or emotional perspective (as a director might do so with a stage play or film) then the player is experiencing dramatic agency.
The idea of remediation initially referred to a process whereby new media technologies improve or correct earlier technologies in a linear vision of technological development and progress. I use the term as defined by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin to be “the formal logic by which new media refashion prior media forms” the two main strategies being hyper-mediacy (where the viewer is reminded of the medium) and transparency (where the viewer can forget the presence of the medium). They are not interested in linear history but in tracing historical affiliations or resonances (1999: 21). While their definition focuses on formal design, they also discuss how remediation reworks implied use patterns and ideological assumptions by refashioning economic, social and political beliefs (1999, p.77).
What not to do
One of the most difficult aspects of designing instruction (regardless as to whether or not it is mediated by digital media) is how to remediate incorrect responses, answer, attitudes, or behaviors. A ‘knee jerk’ reaction is to simply state that the response was incorrect without regards to leading the student/participant to the correct solution. All too often the instructor/discussion leader/instructional designer will inject invective into the mix and/or lose focus as to where the question/comment/discussion should be leading.
Take a look at this exemplar scenario to demonstrate the point:
remediation
Remediation in Gameplay
In an ideal world, you call on the person who you suspect DOES NOT KNOW the correct response and work it through with them to lead them to a correct response. These are tr tricks of entertainers known as interactive actors…. those who do improve on stage with the audience instead of with other professionals on stage. These are the exact techniques game developers use.
To further explain what I am getting at here, you need to read an article I published a couple of years ago with a professional interactor, Jeff Wirth. We utilized his book “Interactive Acting” to devise a series of prescriptive concepts to help with consequence remediation as an alternative.Kenny-wirth
Interactive Design and Pedagogical Practice
Take a look at this article. It should help you formulate your ideas for your reflection/written activity for this module.
interactiondesigandpedologicalpractice
There is a lot to absorb in this module. The reflection you are being asked to write is intended to determine whether you understand the basic premises behind game design and its relationship to our main focus (defining what the term ‘interactivity’ means). You do not need to write a term paper or fully cited white paper. On the other hand, you need to be precise in your responses:
- List in bullet form at least 5-6 elements identified in gamification and consequence remediation readings that you believe to be the most important/influential when designing a unit of instruction.
- Follow with a rational as to why you chose these in terms of instructional design principles or learning theories. (You may need to look up a few or offer some that you are already familiar with). Think: mediated/interactive learning environments as they relate to consequence remediation, motivational models, and critical thinking. The unit does not have to contain an actual game but should rely on some of the gamification principles described in the readings provided in this cycle.
Post your entries in the drop box set up on Canvas.