Task 6: Operationalising interactivity

In the article Interactivity: a concept explication Spiro Kiousis discusses interactivity and its role in new media and communication channels. The main aim of the work is to create a common and comprehensive definition for interactivity. To do this, author has been exploring the topic by conducting an extensive literature analysis and came to conclusion that the concept can be explained in from different points of view and that all the ideas need to be merged together to obtain the ideal conceptual and operational definitions of the interactivity. Author stresses that interactivity is a very broad concept that is used both as an independent and dependent variable in different analyses.

Based on the literature review author has divided the concept into two perspectives: intellectual, with subgroups communication and non-communication, and object emphasized, with subgroups technology, communication setting and perceiver. Three conditions need to be fulfilled if we want to observe interactivity: at least 2 human or non-human participants are required, there must be technology meant for communication (everything, for example, telephone, laptop etc.) and the participants need to have a change to modify the mediated environment. After accomplishing the literature review, author creates his own conceptual definition of interactivity by blending all the dimensions together: “interactivity can be defined as the degree to which a communication technology can create a mediated environment in which participants can communicate (one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many) both synchronously and asynchronously and participate in reciprocal message exchanges (third-order dependency). With regard to human users, it additionally refers to the ability of users to perceive the experience to be a simulation of interpersonal communication and increase their awareness of telepresence”. We can see that Kiousis has included different aspects of interactivity, putting the greatest emphasis on technological and communication.

Author uses this conceptual definition to derive an operational definition of interactivity. The theoretical side of the research is matched with practical implications of the definition. Operational definition has three main components of interactivity: structure of technology (speed, range, timing flexibility, and sensor complexity), communication context (third-order dependency, social presence) and user perception (proximity, sensory activation, perceived speed). Also it is stated that interactivity is both media and psychological variable and one must keep it in mind when analyzing the social impact of interactive media.

To my mind it is unambiguous that interactivity is about new ways of communicating and engaging society to participate in mass media action by giving them the right to express their opinion. But such correct definition of interactivity is very important, because many people tend to use the word interactive knowing only a small part of its real meaning and using it just a catchy advertisement slogan.