The Observer Effect

If every time you re-read a book or watched a film, that mere act changes the story or moves the plot in a different direction, you could say that interactivity has been achieved. In an Interactive Story, this change would occur, among other things, because as participant, you acted as an agent, because you were able to make choices and those choices affected the world of the story.

As we have seen recently in the news, with current social communication tools like Twitter and Facebook, the choices affecting the story do not necesarily stem from a single individual but rather from the collective dynamic.

The interaction in this case takes the form of a web where all threads are connected and the push and pull shapes the form of the "story".The interface allows the free (but constrained) expression of thought as a form of action. As the possibility of drama becomes real, questions of morality and ethics arise, as we try to envision how the "plot" or destiny will evolve.

We become containers of possibilities, like grains of sand in a clock. Our simple observation and awareness creates forking paths, deciding the act. This "observer effect" is also apparent in physics, where the act of observing changes the phenomenon being observed, as well as in psychology, where we can see how people (or governments, or masses) change their behaviour when they are aware of being watched.

Big Brother is Listening; "Hearing Tubes" 17th Century