Investigating Interactivity: Exploring the Role of User Power through Visual Interpretation Pai-Ling Chang VanNung University of Technology, Taiwan, and Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. ABSTRACT In digital media design, interactivity is generally understood as the user’s ability to access information. This interpretation represents quite a narrow perspective, disregarding the user’s capacity to shape meaning and content. In its broadest sense, interactivity encapsulates the concept of reflexivity, allowing enhanced receptivity in new media communication design. Theories of reflexivity suggest the knowledgeability of human agents, highlighting the importance of readership and autonomy. This design research project explores interactivity in such terms, investigating how users exert influence over content, achieve enhanced creative experiences and ultimately produce their own content. This is illustrated through the visual interpretation of Chinese poetry. Keywords: digital media, interactivity, reflexivity, knowledgeability, creative experience 1. INTRODUCTION New interactive media programs use such elements as graphics, animation, video, text, music and sound, governing the interface between content, computer and user. Interactivity confers on the user, a certain level of control. Nathan Shedroff suggested that the interactive creative experience is the ability to add new content to an initial set of interactive work. 1 Successful interactivity is achieved when the design elements enhance the browsing experience. According to Professor Carrie Heeter, website interactivity is the ability to make the user interface process easy, rather than difficult.2 Hence, interactive systems must clearly present the message and be easy to navigate and understand; in practice, however, many websites fall short. The real promise of interactivity lies in its unpredictability, which has the potential to represent free content engagement. Navigation systems, for example, should 1 Nathan Shedroff, ‘Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design’, in Robert Jacobson (ed.), Information Design, Cambridge, the MIT Press, 1999, P. 285. 2 Carrie Heeter, ‘Interactivity in the Context of Design Experiences’, Journal of Interactive Advertising, Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall 2000, http://jiad.org/vol1/no1/heeter/, April 2003.
not lead users down a predictable path or limit the range of unfolding possibilities. Interactive design is the key to enhancing user experiences and must deliver effective links, as well as creating meaning. This study explores the nature of interactivity within the context of new media. Its focus is user power, or the ability to manipulate content, using design strategies to enhance content interaction and proposing an enhanced model of interactivity. We propose innovative ways to support browsing behaviour, approaching it in a dynamic and undetermined way by creating possibilities for novel interpretations. Investigation of these ideas is via an interactive CD-Rom, giving a visualization of the poems of the esteemed Chinese writer, Li Po. This interactive CD process becomes an end in itself, advancing the premise that interactive behaviour is similar to writing fiction, and unfolding the media’s user potential to exert influence over content. This design affords the user access to a range of actions, which define the texture of enhanced creative experiences. Poetry is the ideal context, through which to investigate these possibilities; its ideas, images and words require the reader to liberate meaning. Rather than simple point and click behaviour, this enhanced model of interactivity allows an imaginative unfolding of possibilities. My interest in the interpretative autonomy of users evolved from the idea that audiences, rather than authors, construct meaning. According to Roland Barthes’ classic essay ‘The Death of the Author’, writing transcends the author, focusing on the reader’s response, rather than the author’s intentions. 3 A founding statement of postmodernism, ‘The Death of the Author’ overturned common understanding of cultural texts by encouraging open interpretation. Barthes’ essay encapsulated many ideological dimensions, arguing that an author is not an integral "person" but a subject, constituted through society and history, which does not exist, outside language. He maintained it is writing— itself a product of society, history and ideology—that makes the author. On this point, Barthes wrote, "The writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original. His only power is to mix writings ... in such a way as never to rest on any one of them".4 In liberating writing, Barthes rejected a transcendent, purposeful subject as the site of cultural production; instead, he ceded this function to language: To give a text an ‘Author’ is to impose a limit on that text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing ... [Yet] by refusing to assign a 'secret,' an ultimate meaning, to the text (and the world as text), liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse to fix meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypostases— reason, science, law.5 In Barthes’ scenario, the author cannot claim authority over his text, abandoning the production of meaning to the reader; it is of note that the 3 Roland Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’ in Image-Music-Text, Stephen Heath (Trans.), Fontana, Fontana Paperback, 1977, p. 148. 4 Roland Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’ in Image-Music-Text, Stephen Heath (Trans.), Fontana, Fontana Paperback, 1977, p. 146. 5 Roland Barthes, ‘The Death of the Author’ in Image-Music-Text, Stephen Heath (Trans.), Fontana, Fontana Paperback, 1977, p. 147.
reader is equally, socially and historically, constituted. Nevertheless, this notion of an open text has important implications in interactive media design. Many see the interactive hypermedia environment as realizing Barthes' radical agenda, which liberates meaning from the tyranny of singular authorship. A reader’s capacity to follow individual paths, through text and information, which do not conform to linear order, mirrors the way reading affects writing; allowing the user to so engage, suggests empowerment. In this project, the visual elements provide investigative possibilities, allowing users to construct multi-faceted and unique creations; extending the possibilities of meaning and structure. Rethinking interactivity involves developing an expanded concept of receptivity in new media communication. British social theorist, Anthony Giddens’ 1984 book The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration offers ideas for rethinking the nature and process of interaction, as well its design concepts and strategies. Giddens emphasizes the capacity of social agents for self-reproduction, self-transformation and selfdeconstruction.6 His primary contention is that social patterns and structures do not exist, outside of individual agents, who continually reproduce or change them, making them simultaneously enabling and constraining. He emphasizes the active and reflexive characteristics of human conduct, stressing that in modern society, individuals and institutions encompass high reflexivity. Giddens’ theory of modernity sees qualities of reflexivity informing the knowledgeability of human agents, monitoring self-action and correcting selfbehaviour, which depends on consciousness of complex social relations when judging or adjusting actions.7 For Giddens, this was extended to the way we construct ourselves. Giddens' Theory of Structuration is important in understanding the creative agency of users in digital media contexts, as well as the enabling and constraining characteristics of interaction design. Interactive media design allows users the freedom to initiate a range of actions. Giddens’ writings reiterate the importance of readership in multimedia contexts and design. The idea of agency encompasses both internal processes and external consequences, suggesting that we structure and change our world, both purposely and unintentionally; thus, we contribute to that world. In a multimedia context, passive interaction is not simply passive, but can also produce and expand content. As proposed by Rey Chow, intellectuals of the Chinese diaspora have a special opportunity and responsibility to strive for ‘a loosening of the positivity of the sign ”Chinese”.’ 8 Clinging to an unquestioned ideal of being ‘Chinese’, 6 Human social activities, like some self-reproducing items in nature, are recursive. That is to say, they are not brought into being by social actors but continually recreated by them via the very means whereby they express themselves as actors. In and through their activities, agents reproduce the conditions that make these activities possible. See Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1984, p.3. 7 Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1984, p. xxxiii-xxxiv. 8 Rey Chow, Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Study, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 93.
together with its hierarchical ways of thinking about the rest of the world must be removed. For Chow, culture is ‘an unfinished process’9, and suggesting the establishment of a Chinese national literature, in the postcolonial era, requires more than just the belief in a magnificent past. In this respect, modern Chinese writers should use their heritage as a base, opening ancient Chinese literature to contemporary interpretation, for example, through new media communication technology. Chinese poetry, considered one of the most significant achievements of ancient Chinese culture, is the mode within which we have chosen to explore new media technology. Poetry evokes a paradigm of free interpretation far beyond other writing forms; its open-ended nature serves a function similar to the open path in hypermedia, allowing interaction between user and content. Interpreting poetry liberates the text, just as interactive media assists the user to make decisions. In its most general form, interactivity involves participation; as poetry liberates language, interactivity can open unlimited interpretations across national and cultural boundaries. Exploring Chinese poetry through this new media context may allow the Chinese people to renegotiate their cultural heritage from a modern standpoint, allowing us to understand the past, and ourselves, in the process; it also allows us to understand the interactive role and ability of the user. 2. INTERACTIVITY IN THE CONTEXT OF NEW MEDIA In the digital media field, the term ‘interactivity’ can refer to everything from passive exchanges with content to active, computer-mediated communications. Active participation levels, characterising interaction, have been the subjects of recent digital media discourses. While the ideal would be for users to be able to influence content, few attempts have been made to understand the implications of user power, which lacks a definitive description; this points to a more profound deficit in multimedia design discourse: interactivity has no precise definition. At the heart of the interactive myth is a desire to produce a personal repository of information, rather than a ready-made one. Hence, interactivity should consider user power as a key concern in the development of digital media communication design. 2.1 Activeness and Participation Interactivity is a broad term, encompassing a number of meanings. A goal, much sought after in the digital age, is the ability to actively manipulate media and information, eliciting optimum levels of interactivity. Internet and new media consultant, Tony Feldman argues, “interactivity offers the potential to create a new era in information, entertainment and education. Through interactivity, once dull, passive experience will be transformed into something infinitely richer and more compelling.“ 10 Feldman’s enthusiasm for new technology suggests its potential to open a wealth of human experience, surpassing the passivity of print. In and of itself, however, new technology is 9 Rey Chow, Ethics After Idealism: Theory-Culture- Ethnicity- Reading, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1998, p. xiv. 10 Tony Feldman, An Introduction to Digital Media, London, Routledge, 1997, p.13.
not transformative. The activeness of interactivity is critical to a rewarding user experience. The term ‘activeness’ identifies a powerful level of user engagement, involving greater choice, individual operation and an independent relationship to the knowledge source. Activeness is important in the world of mediated communications that is new media. An ‘active experience’ is focused on the ‘user’ or ‘participant’, suggesting not merely the ability to navigate the digital world, but to also manipulate content. Simply moving the mouse, in a ‘point and click’ environment, does not ensure an interactive relationship between user and multimedia content. Digital media theorist and entrepreneur, Brenda Laurel, adds the concept of representation to understanding interactivity, suggesting that, ‘something is interactive when people can participate as agents within a representational context’, 11 emphasizing the ability to intervene in a meaningful way. Also focusing on the reader, Lev Manovich suggests reading hypertext: ‘In this way new media technology acts as the most perfect realization of the utopia of an ideal society composed of unique individuals. New media objects assure users that their choices—and therefore, their underlying thoughts and desires—are unique, rather than pre-programmed and shared with others’.12 As active participants, users can engage in co-creation, by interpreting content and constructing meaning and by modifying form and content; such individual participation implies interchangeable sender and receiver roles and encourages exploration of user power in interactive media communication design. 2.2 Co-creation Interactive art represents one of the highest levels of interactivity between users and new media. As an ideological imperative, interactive art involves direct exchange between artist/designer, the digital work, and its audience, disseminating and receiving, as well as building perceptual systems. Margret Elisabet Olafsdottir, curator at The National Gallery of Iceland argues that interactive art’s main objective is to have the spectator actively participate in the creative process. 13 This model is in stark contrast to the traditional art audience, standing in solemn contemplation of the work. Interactive art blurs the line between artist and user, advancing the idea of co-creation. Although interactive art involves collaborative creation, opportunities to significantly affect the creative process are limited, as most works have a pre-determined path. According to Professor Janet Murray, humans possess narrative intelligence: awareness of objects and beings in the past; expectations for the future. We make inferences beyond observation, including interpretations of events. 14 Limiting the scope of the user, therefore, also limits new media program development. Hence, an enhanced interactivity model is required for new media program development. Users must gain dominance in the production process, evoking and extending perception and giving birth to new media products. 11
Brenda Laurel, Computers as Theater, MA, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993, p.112. Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2001, p.42. Margret Elisabet Olafsdottir, ‘Art and Interactivity’, http://www.multimedia.hi.is/lecturers/margret_print.htm. 14 Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The future of narrative in cyberspace, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1997. 12 13
Professor Jens F. Jensen defined interactivity and user-control, in new media programs, as a continuum, representing different degrees of interactivity. Jensen argued that, ‘a high degree of interactivity is characterized by the user having the frequent ability to act, having many choices to choose from, choices that significantly influence the overall outcome just like in real life’;15 this suggests that user control is directly related to the degree of interactivity, implying that a high level of interactivity would enhance both user power and the creative experience. Echoing co-creation, Nathan Shedroff suggested that factors defining interactivity include: degree of control over tools, pacing or content; the choice conferred by this control; and the user’s ability to use tools or content. 16 Shedroff advances the ‘four spectrum’ interactivity experience in multimedia applications, comprising (1) control and feedback, (2) productivity and creative experience, (3) adaptive experience, and (4) communicative experience. On the creative experience spectrum, Shedroff argues that interactivity can allow users to function autonomously or share in creating, pointing out that most people find the creative process interesting, entertaining, and fulfilling. In the interactive multimedia context, tools for creating are critical; when users participate in shaping or manipulating components, the experience is more compelling. 17 Shedroff believes the essential creative attribute of interactivity is the addition of new content or value to the initial set, allowing the product, toolset or database to ‘live’ or ‘evolve’,18 which places greater emphasis on the creative experience and its subsequent value. By contrast, interactive art encourages users to participate in the creative process, suggesting the user and artist become co-creators; Shedroff attributes greater importance to the creative experience. 2.3 Open-ended Interactive Structures While literary and new media artists have experimented with making the user’s role more active, a separate body of research has examined interactivity levels in relation to levels of user control. Digital media studies have focused on the open-ended nature of interactive multimedia experiences, while multimedia and virtual-environment designer, Jim Gasperini, argues that ambiguity in hypermedia narratives, is essential. Gasperini suggests that truly interactive work offers structural ambiguity, arising from the role of the audience in creating the plot. Structural ambiguity constructs meaning from alternative possibilities, choices and consequences, as they play out, over time; 19 open-ended structures offer the highest potential for the creation of richness of meaning.
15 Jens F. Jensen, ‘“Interactivity”― Tracking a New Concept in Media and Communication Studies’, in Paul A. Mayer (ed.), Computer Media and Communication, New York, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 177. 16 Nathan Shedroff, ‘Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design’, in Robert Jacobson (ed.), Information Design, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1999, p. 283. 17 Ibid., p. 284. 18 Ibid., p. 285. 19 Jim Gasperini, ‘Structural Ambiguity: An Emerging Interactive Aesthetic’, in Robert Jacobson (ed.), Information Design, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 1999, p.305.
The non-linear hypermedia structure, of which Gasperini writes, is open-ended. Hypermedia systems contain pointers for linking to multimedia information, such as text, graphics, video and audio, allowing connection and integration of practically limitless information in diverse forms. Text may take the browser to a sound, while a picture may lead to a database. 20 This non-linear interconnection is the essence of hypermedia systems, opening up possibilities for multiple views and open-ended interaction. Non-linear narratives allow development of more intuitive modes of interpretation and non-linear access to information implies the absence of a single discursive thread, breaking a unique sequence as the main ordering principle when gathering information. As Carles Puig argues: ”Network interactive communication systems based on hypermedia produce a type of cultural product that is not read linearly; rather, it is organized in a structure that is oriented towards connecting and integrating different pieces of knowledge. They are different from approaches in which authorship and management are centralized, as they develop processes of communication in which people participate, in which the communicative materials can be ’experienced.’ These systems bring culture closer to what we might call the "open-ended" approach.”21 The power of open-ended interactive structures realizes digital media’s potential for multiple directions, encouraging consideration of complex interrelated issues and interdisciplinary approaches. This implies an emergent quality, leading to the possibility of unique outcomes and offering the potential to explore multiple meanings or open-ended interpretations. 2.4 Dimension of Interactivity Lev Manovich argues that new media objects are not fixed but variable, and can exist in different, potentially infinite, versions.22 Individual reception of new media objects differs, diversifying understanding and liberating interpretation. User power shifts the focus from simple interactivity to the ability to manipulate material and facilitate production of individualised meaning and experience. Digital media interactivity challenges designers to embrace a user’s productive capacity, using it to reconstruct, recreate and reproduce content; reflexivity is perhaps another perspective through which interactive communication design can further mature. None of the above definitions is particularly relevant in light of user power, and provides little insight into how designers might approach interactivity, in practical terms; an enhanced concept of interactivity must be established. Existing discussions on interactivity reveal that activeness, participation, cocreation and open-endedness are pivotal in emphasising the individual’s capabilities in interactive media design. Particularly, open-endedness suggests indeterminate poetic orderings, where tension is created through the varied 20
Carles Tomas I Puig, ‘From Hypertext to Hypermedia: Overview of The Development of Open-ended Work’, http://www.iua.upf.es/formats/formats2/tom_a.htm, July 2004. 21 ibid 22 Lev Manovich, The Language of New Media, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2001, p.36.
potentials within a text. These multiple interpretations raise concern for a lack of fixed reference points; this will be discussed later, in the context of Chinese poetry. Many Western attitudes are implicit within new technology; the following section explores transitive outcomes produced through a crosscultural mixing of values and aesthetics. The mixing of Chinese literary structures and contemporary technology draws attention to the historically specific ways in which context fashions possibilities, juxtaposed viewpoints and the relegation of the user to mere passive spectator. Although elusive, interactivity remains a promising concept, suggesting multiple perspectives, provisionality, productiveness and ‘in betweenness’. This study proposes that interactivity may be determined through the user’s scope for creativity. User response has an inherent effect on the reading of cultural texts, so understanding the nature of individual involvement, with new media subject matter, becomes compelling. Allowing higher levels of involvement and ensuring the potential for unique outcomes may be more important than promising so-called new, fully interactive, media programs. Finally, the importance of learning, in both creating and reading an openended work, must be stressed. 3. EXPLORING INTERACTIVITY IN A CHINESE CONTEXT In this research project, Chinese poetry was chosen as the context in which to explore interactivity, with the target audience being Chinese readers. Our challenge was to use modern interactive communication technologies, and a cross-cultural mixing of values and aesthetics, to reinterpret Chinese poetry, intermingling Chinese literature with contemporary thought. We hope to encourage a Chinese audience to rethink ancient cultural values, through their own personal interpretations; understanding ancient Chinese poetry from a contemporary perspective by adding new dimensions to our interactive media design, may stimulate users’ creative and productive capabilities. 3.1 The Conservative Interpretation of Ancient Chinese Culture The five thousand years of Chinese culture is an esteemed part of world history and a proud heritage for the Chinese people. This ancient heritage makes China unique among the countries of the world. Under this spectrum, intellectuals in modern China seek to demonstrate continuity with past literary achievements, which, for them, have become both a source of pride and a dilemma. The golden treasure may urge intellectuals to excel, while also limiting their creativity, because of its lofty ideals. The resultant culture may be seen as narcissistic, if it is referred to as being simply ‘Chinese’; hence, Chinese literature could remain irrelevant to modern society, remaining trapped forever, in its historical form. It is not only Chinese intellectuals who cannot escape from the eminence of ancient Chinese culture; Western sinologists also strive to preserve this magnificent heritage for the Chinese people. The sinologist, Stephen Owen, criticizes contemporary Chinese poet Bei Dao’s poetry, saying it has no true national identity and seeks ‘a cozy ethnicity’. 23 He is of the opinion that 23 Rey Chow, Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Study, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 4.
contemporary Chinese writers sacrifice their cultural heritage. As a Western sinologist who has devoted his life to the study of Chinese literature, preserving the ancient system supports his ‘raison d’etre’. Sinologists are, in effect, preservationists, whose aim is to protect Chinese culture from modernity. Professor Rey Chow maintains that a sinologist is fundamentally self-interested, and as China becomes increasingly modernized, he is overcome by the loss of his beloved object.24 As ancient Chinese culture is carefully protected by both Chinese intellectuals and Western sinologists, remaining mysterious and unattainable, modern Chinese literature can only exist in its shadow. Most interpretations of the great body of Chinese literature may turn away modern-day readers. This valuable heritage must be presented in a contemporary context. Ancient Chinese culture, however, must be allied, in spirit, with modern Chinese culture. This involves, in practice, using ‘the history of the sign “Chinese”…as a base for an alliance with other types of work not done exclusively in Chinarelated areas.’25 The aim of this project is to bring, to a Chinese audience, the ancient literature, from a contemporary, cross-cultural perspective. 3.2 Defining Interactivity: Poetry as a Model As mentioned above, Chinese poetry was used as the force to correlate ancient Chinese culture with new media technology. Throughout history, different cultures have used different techniques for interactive arts, based on available technology, quite different from today’s computer screen format. Poetry can suggest evocative paradigms and interpretations beyond any other writing form. This open-endedness can serve a similar function in hypermedia, allowing the user to engage freely with content. As poetry interpretation liberates text, so interactive media liberates decision making. In both cases, communicative dialogue takes place. Presently, interactive media may be limited because of the difficulty of dealing with abstractions; poetry, on the other hand, allows the reader to engage with text via his imagination. Interpretation of poetry involves interactivity, and our poetry model delivers ways of rethinking its nature and process, and the reader’s productivity and creativity. Interactive media design can, therefore, learn from Chinese poetry, by continually connecting to what came before. Paul de Mann commented, ‘modernity exists in the form of a desire to wipe out whatever came earlier, in the hope of reaching at last a point that could be called a true present, a point of origin that marks a new departure.’26 From this perspective, poetry suggests an open-ended concept and emphasizes the power of the audience, liberating the text without predetermined expectations. This contrasts with interactive work, where a prompted response is generally predetermined. For most interactive programs, all of their possible offerings are finite and are programmed to respond as if they had consciousness, making the user think he had influenced the content somewhat, when in truth, he had little or no 24 Rey Chow, Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Study, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 4. 25 Ibid 24, p. 93 26 Paul de Man, Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1983, p. 148, cited from Rey Chow, Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Culture Studies, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1993, p.41.
influence. The user’s influence in interactive work is limited by prior authority, determined by the content developers, programmers and designers, making most outcomes preordained. The open-ended aspect of reading poetry, on the other hand, illustrates a higher form of interactivity, on which interactive multimedia works could be patterned, providing a more creative experience, with infinite possibilities. The new digital media has, however, shifted its main focus from the possibilities inherent in the created object to participation in a process encompassing a multitude of interactions. Exploration of Chinese poetry, in the context of new media, may allow the Chinese people to renegotiate their cultural heritage from a modern perspective, allowing them a better understanding of both interactivity, and themselves. 3.3 The Potential for Autonomous Creativity in an Open Poetic Structure: the Design Strategy A digital media program purports to enable the marrying of selected elements with selected processes. Such elements and processes, as emergent content, provoke experience through interaction. Through the process of visual interpretation, models of multiple construction and design emerge, and are available for application in other contexts that may also embody ‘reflexive’ creative experience, as a benchmark of user involvement. Such creative experience can reflect the poetic nature of text. In this design research project, the cross-cultural visual elements suggest multiple viewpoints, encouraging an open interpretation of the cultural text. This begins with the semantic dimension of Chinese characters. For example, when Li Po writes ‘Pai-Dih city I left at dawn among dawn-tinted clouds’, the on screen option for the word ‘dawn’ includes dawn, morning, life, begin, hope and busy. The suggested meanings open the door to wider understanding of the language. Based on the idea of openness and the theory of visual interpretation, the multi-dimensional layers of interpretation may be derived from a combination of all of the following: the ‘original’ meaning of the poem; the general cultural literacy of a Chinese user; semiotics; and the designer’s experience. Facilitated by the interface and interaction design, the user can navigate and construct an individualized interpretation of Li Po’s poem, using 117 separate elements, including still and moving images, text, graphics and sound. The structure of elements is driven by the order and nature of the words in the poem. However, from that point on, the hermeneutic dimension is open to the user. The possibility of producing individual multimedia works, from a poetry perspective, affords the user an opportunity to interpret the poem or to engage in more self-directed creative play. The user may discover visual elements developing within a specific context. Many of these elements are included, because ambiguous characteristics suggest an open structure, allowing the greatest potential to create richness of meaning. This strategy assures the possibilities implied by the text, while still functioning within the bounds of the original poem. To allow a different experience from simply reading the text, the design also adds an aural dimension withinto the interpretation; this was how the original poem was experienced, as being ‘read aloud’, which is still deeply revered within the Chinese culture.
A poetic structure for creating a visual interpretation was introduced in this project. Reflecting the conceptual structure of the Chinese language and Li Po’s poem, the written content of the poem was divided into a set of thirteen elements. There are also multiple choices for the visual elements, with an open structure provided by the design, which offers multiple meanings to the text. The elements were developed from both traditional and contemporary perspectives, to allow for cross-cultural aesthetics and multiple viewpoints. This process, offering quality and dimension in visual interpretation, also exhibits a high degree of possibility in terms of liberating the original text of the poem; thus, reading one or more elements from each set may imply new forms of meaning, which reflect its poetic structure. This enables the user to understand how a particular visual/textual element may be used in relation to a word, within a different context, experiencing that word in relation to other words from the derived sets. As users navigate the program, the open environment allows them the freedom to create, making the outcome personal and unique. This feature of the program mixes the initial content with the user’s perceptions to produce an original reading of the poem, actively creating a process of interaction and substitution of the words and elements. The elements suggested do not enforce selection, or limit the understanding of the text; instead, the users must activate the elements to create their own unique interpretation. Such a design can enhance the user’s level of engagement with the media content. The interpretative autonomy of the user, as suggested by Barthes, is enhanced by this open poetic structure, which presents an amplified, productive and creative way to approach the text by a literal and metaphorical interweaving. The design concept allows the user’s construction, deconstruction and reconstruction ability in a new media context, defining open work and empowerment, and suggesting the reinterpretation of given content in a digital environment. 4. CONCLUSION In considering user power, within interactive digital media design, it is important to remember that as the user gains more control, so developers have less control over the eventual meaning derived from their content. Much early attention has seemed to focus on message dimensions. Individual control over a message is a key determinant of interactivity. By emphasizing a user’s creative capacity to affect media content, new dimensions may be invented so the user can read, interact with, and explore information content. In the context of new media development, interactivity suggests openness, activeness, participation, co-creation and multiple perspectives. The true consequence of greater levels of interactivity is that greater levels of control are transferred to the user, enabling full expression of potential human creativity. Attempts to improve interactive digital media design should address not only interactive functionality, but also the interactive media design, itself. In this way, the user’s capacity to interact and interpret content, within current social and cultural contexts, will be served.
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