Binary Vision blog
Distributed interaction: The future of digital?
Posted 10 Oct 2011 by Paul N / @BinaryPJ
What is ‘distributed interaction’?
Distributed interaction (DI) is a term I’ve coined (with apologies if anyone’s using it for something else) for a digital tool – a website, piece of software, mobile app, etc. – which gives users the ability to design and create their own interactivity. And for them to distribute it.
Just as YouTube, Vimeo, SoundCloud, etc. have enabled users to broadcast their video and audio, distributed interaction is about enabling people to broadcast their interactivity.
Distributed interaction is about targeting a type of interactive need, and enabling people to create and share interactivity, without them having to be software engineers.
Distributed interaction is not new – but its future is immense…
A highly selective, non-chronological history of distributed interaction
There are numerous examples of how DI works in practice. Here are a few:
1. VisiCalc
VisiCalc broke the mould in personal computing. It was the first spreadsheet – the model which was later adopted by the likes of Lotus 1, 2, 3 and of course Excel.
Much has been written about how it changed the world of personal computers as the first business-oriented ‘killer app.’, how it turned personal computers from hobbyist playthings to valued businesses tools.
But equally brilliant was how this was achieved.
VisiCalc abstracted the process of creating financial spreadsheets. Until then, there were programs to deliver specific financial and other models.
For the first time, almost anyone – using VisiCalc – could create their own interactive ‘spreadsheets’. And share them – for others to enter content or update.
Interaction had been abstracted from content. The ability to create and share interaction had been distributed to users – without them even realising it.
2. Video game ‘creators’
The video game world – as is often the case – has led the way with distributed interaction.
Cartoon Network for instance provides game creators linked to key brands like Clone Wars and Batman while Lego (with their history of providing non-digital creativity) are one of a number to offer level creators for several of their video games.
In fact, the ability for gamers to make their own games goes back a long way. As early as 1983 – prehistory in digital terms – Pinball Construction Set was the first in a series of game ‘constructors’. Though hamstrung by technical constraints – processor speed, memory, etc. – these early game constructors were ground-breaking; they enabled non-programmers to create their own interactive games – albeit not very good ones.
3. Ushahidi
Ushahidi – the crowdsourcing / crowdmapping program is an inspirational social enterprise tool. It first came to global attention for its incredible work helping direct the relief effort in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.
Since then it’s been instrumental in mapping numerous global and local events – everything from the ‘Arab Spring’ and Japan earthquake to zombie sightings.
And once again – the use of distributed interaction is as important as the message. Ushahidi made their tool openly available to download, configure and install – thus distributing the interaction to anyone who needed it.
In practice, this did require a fair bit of technical know-how, so Ushahidi now offer Crowdmap - a cloud-based platform, which non-techies can use to create and share their own interactive crowd mapping, getting started “in minutes”. That’s real distributed interaction.
A lesson from these examples: targeting
So what have VisiCalc, the Batman Game Creator and Crowdmap got in common? They’ve all targeted a specific type of interaction for people to distribute.
Because a tool which distributes generic (i.e. untargeted) interaction is effectively a programming language. And that’s invariably so complicated to use that it‘s the domain of skilled professionals, i.e. programmers (sorry - I mean "software engineers"!).
Distributed interaction works best when the application is targeted, and so the interface is simple enough for almost anyone, without special skills, to create and share their interactivity.
Distributed interaction works when it is for the many, rather than the few.
Distributed interaction – the future?
Giving ordinary users the ability to create their own interaction, and more than ever for them to share that interaction with others has untold potential.
Here at Binary Vision, we’re working on applying distributed interaction in healthcare.
And we’d love to hear your ideas (on the form below, or on Twitter @BinaryPJ) for how distributed Interaction will evolve – to take full advantage of our hyper-mobile, hyper-networked age.