Interactive media is any media that responds to user input. Traditional media such as broadcast television and film involves an audience watching with no way to navigate or participate. Interactive media began to replace this model of one-way communication beginning with the commercialization of the internet in the 1990s. The following are common types of interactive media.
Application Software
Software designed as a tool for users such as a knowledge management platform.
Apps
Application software for mobile devices such as a weather app.
Games
Entertaining and engaging software that may resemble a digital world.
Virtual Reality
Immersive digital experiences that make users feel as if they are exploring a world that is a digital construct or is a digital twin of physical reality.
Pervasive Games
Games that mix virtual and physical environments.
Interactive Video
Video and television with interactive features such as streaming video that audiences help to create.
Publications
Publications such as websites that allow users to navigate, communicate and participate.
Social Media
Digital communities that allow media to be navigated, shared and created.
Art
Interactive art that involves the observer.
Advertising
Digital, outdoor and in-store advertising that features interactive elements such as a digital poster that reacts to people who are in its proximity.
Theme Parks
Theme park attractions that combine media such as a movie with physical elements such as a roller coaster.
Cine
ma
Interactive cinema that allows audiences to play a role in the film. In theory, movies could be game-like.