But a computer is not just a machine. It is a new medium. It is a new medium whose surface often looks similar to older media. It is a new medium for which we are just beginning to develop suitable techniques of organization and representation. The computer is not the only information technology which has had a strong effect on human cognition - television, radio, and telephone have also particpated.
Computer users are far from passive.
One has only to observe the faces of children playing video games to realize this. Users of electronic mail, word processing systems, databases, programming languages, and presentation authoring software are no more passive than those children. Yet some computer applications do not require interactivity, just as accessing some non-computer information technologies such as paintings or music does not require interactivity. Interaction is not necessarily the opposite of passivity. And interaction is not the same as creativity.