The Researchers and the Concept

What is interactivity in the context of computer-mediated communication? Researchers have been struggling with that question for at least two decades. Casual readers of the literature on interactivity would find so many different and conflicting definitions, explications, and ways of operationalizing the concept that they might reasonably ask: "Are these researchers talking about the same thing?" The question brings to mind the old fable of the blind men and the elephant. If one can't see the whole elephant, then feeling just a part of it is sure to lead to inaccurate descriptions of what an elephant is. Those who feel the trunk will perceive the elephant very differently than those who feel the tail. Similarly, those who examine interactivity in the context of person-to-person communication facilitated through a computer will conceptualize interactivity very differently than those who explore interactivity as a characteristic of the human interface with the computer.