Web-based Activity

Creating Interactive Content

[paynt]

Maybe for a special event, for a classroom project, in gaming, selling how would you go about planning for the content for an online event or web-based activity?

[rogerd]

Interesting thought, Paynt. I suppose at the simplest level, a web interaction could be nothing more than a web-based linear PowerPoint-style presentation.

Adding branching options would allow participants to choose different paths through the content - in the olden days of paper books, kids seemed to enjoy "pick-a-path" adventures where they have choices like, "If you talk to the ghost, turn to page 10; if you run away, turn to page 15". Needless to say, the web could enhance that experience.

To add more interaction and hook attention, one could incorporate attractive graphics, flash or other animations, etc.

At the extreme end of the complexity scale, students could navigate through a Myst-like environment with surprises, puzzles, etc.

The big problem that I see is the amount of prep work required. I've taught classes and have found that the outside prep time is often several times as long as the in-class time. Trying to do even a simple interactive web event could be even MORE time consuming - creating something reusable would seem to be essential.

[paynt]

Thanks for responding rogerd. Next year I’ll be working with my children’s school and the website. I want to work with the kids themselves on projects and thought setting up interactive content would make it engaging. Fun to plan parish wide events as well and involve the whole community.

I also am working with two organizations in developing a community and thinking ahead towards making a statement I thought an interactive event would be interesting.

Wondering generally about arranging and presenting the content for these and any other interactive event. Thanks for your reply rogerd.

[rogerd]

One caution: today's kids have very high expectations for electronic interaction. Passively, they have cartoons and MTV, which set one level of visual expectation. For interactive media, they are exposed to Nintendo, PS2, X-box, et al. Even a well-designed web interaction might seem kind of slow-paced and boring.

One reason advanced for the apparent lack of attention span among kids today is the assault of electronic media - MTV, video games, etc., provide a ton of visual bandwidth and neural stimulation. This makes things like reading or quiet reflection seem, well, boring by comparison...