INTERACTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INTERACTIVE ...
INTERACTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INTERACTIVE ...
INTERACTION DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR INTERACTIVE ...
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Dramas may need to operate under a different model of interactivity. Many<br />
viewers may resist interactivity during the first viewing of a fast-paced drama, for<br />
example, but they may be more willing to access enhancements during a repeat. In this<br />
model, perhaps interactivity can breathe new life into syndicated content. Herigstad, who<br />
designed C.S.I. Interactive, agrees: “The model for what we are doing is extended media.<br />
We think that most of the people who watch C.S.I. Interactive would have already seen<br />
the regular broadcast, and wanted to deepen their experience of it” (MIT<br />
Communications Forum, 2004).<br />
Not all dramas are enhanced effectively, however. In 2004, the producers of<br />
NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent decided to implement an interactive component<br />
allowing viewers to vote to save or kill one of its running characters, a first for network<br />
television. Viewers were to decide whether the character Nicole Wallace, an adversary of<br />
the show’s Detective Robert Goren, would live beyond the fourth episode of the show's<br />
fourth season. Two versions of the ending were shown: viewers in the Eastern time zone<br />
saw one ending, while those in the Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones saw the<br />
other. Both endings were available to viewers on the NBC Web site. Following the<br />
broadcast, viewers were able to visit NBC online to vote on which ending they prefer,<br />
and the results were broadcast the following week.<br />
According to Janet Murray, as quoted in the New York Times, “They’re putting<br />
the viewer in the role of the executioner… In some way, that violates the premise of the<br />
series: How do we live together as a society, while containing antisocial impulses?<br />
Allowing the viewers to vote completely undermines the ‘order’ part of ‘Law & Order.’”<br />
(Carr & Gross, 2004).<br />
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