This project was inspired by class conversations and discussions of interactivity. This mystery is an exercise in what interaction is and is not. Throughout the unfolding mystery, the user interacts with the computer/web site. In other parts the user may believe he or she is interacting, but in actuality the site's code is written to act in a manner consistent with the expected action and the user has little direct impact on the outcome. For example, a button click may take the user to a dialogue window that was already coded into the site. The user is not really interacting with the code; he/she is merely engaging or "starting" the code.
I will explore this concept further in future papers. For more on interaction and the state of the art of computers and English studies, visit the class web site.
The original idea was storyboarded on paper (future link--check back).