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VI:25.  [But] interaction is a term which sits happily in the phrase “complex interaction” and it implies reciprocity and mutual influence, between persons and/or things. It is too rich a term for the programmed stimulus and response, or configurational controls which are currently offered over the limited channels of today’s electronic publishing systems — keyboard, pointing device, screen; less commonly simple voice recognition and speech-generation; full-motion video or virtual reality if you are (?) lucky. Doubtless, the technology will improve and improve quickly. In the meantime it is strange that there is so much willingness to apply the term interaction to simple human-machine exchanges when in face-to-face encounters with other persons (or animals or things for that matter) we have experiences which are truly interactive, to an extent which might make us wary of applying the term when dealing with software.
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