Interaction Vs. Interactivity

Interaction vs. Interactivity:

As I was studying this week, I stumbled across the difference between interaction versus interactivity.  It seems like these words are used interchangeably, but yet there is a difference to their meaning.

Interaction is the action between two or more objects

While

Interactivity is the degree of responsiveness to the interaction.

Basically interaction focuses on behaviors, while interactivity focuses on the technology systems. Good to know, right?

For class, we’ve been asked to share a fun and interactive media example.  One of my favourite sites (and it has been for awhile) is neave.com.  Paul Neave, a British interaction designer is the man behind this site.

I love this site.  It is all intuitively interactive.  Even from the moment a user arrives, the rollovers all have a beautiful sound attached to them- and that’s just the beginning!

The TV channel is the best part of the site. Basically the idea is that the channel feeds the user certain video clips, and when they get tired they can just click and move on. Amazing!

Other than the TV Channel, there are many other interactive mediums to play with, such as a dandelion you can blow by using your computer’s microphone, and an imagination area where you can move your cursor around to create waves of colour.  (Sample pictures here were taken from the imagination site.)

Along with showing off great interactive media, Neave’s site-, which is his personal playground/portfolio also demonstrates that there is an importance in creating and exhibiting your own work in addition to the stuff that gets you paid.