Interactivity, Participatory, and Sometimes Democratic

The common thread through the readings for this week ("Happenings," "Augmenting Human Intellect," "Sketchpad," "The Construction of Change," and "A File Structure for the Complex") concerns interactivity, or the level at which a creator/operator/user runs the machine. The readings point towards what we now call interactivity, which often leads to discussion of "participatory" enviroments allowed by new media--which at their best might allow democratic expressions, and at their worst might threaten privacy and safety.

But the writers for this week's readings weren't quite there yet, as precient as the essays are. The authors reveal the complexity of what we take for granted, and I realize how little I know when I'm confused by reading the most basic engineering theories.

I was especially interested by Ascott, who in "The Construction of Change" questions the relationship between knowlege and perception and how that plays out in art and science, and in how we organize information. Ascott even appears to predict how restructuring art (through technology) will lead to interdisciplinary ventures.

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