1739495

Internet, discourse and interaction potential

Keynote to appear at First Asia Pacific Conference on Human-Computer Interaction.

Harold Thimbleby

Middlesex University

LONDON, N11 2NQ, GB

Email: harold@mdx.ac.uk

Abstract

The conventions of drama present the planned as spontaneous, stimulating the imagination of greater interaction potential than there is. This paper argues for a distinction between design for demonstration and design for interaction. The distinction is needed on the Internet, which supports the greatest range of discourse — spontaneous to planned — and therefore wide scope for confusing dramatic presentation for effective interaction.

Keywords

Design, discourse, drama, human-computer interaction, hypertext, scenarios