An apparatus comprising: one or more computer readable storage media; and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least: in response to a gesture associated with an item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) displayed on a display system, identify an interaction model (300, 400, 900) specific to a format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118); wherein to identify the interaction model (300, 400, 900), the program instructions direct the processing system to identify the format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) and select the interaction model (300, 400, 900) from a plurality of interaction models (300, 400, 900) associated with a plurality of formats, wherein the format comprises a one of the plurality of formats; identify a response to the gesture in accordance with the interaction model (300, 400, 900); and render the response with respect to the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) on the display surface, the apparatus further comprising the display system configured to accept the gesture by way of a touch interface and display the response to the gesture and the processing system configured to execute the program instructions, wherein the display system is configured to display a multi-format canvas including a plurality of various content items (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) having various formats, wherein at least two formats have differing interaction models (300, 400, 900) relative to each other. one or more computer readable storage media; and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least: in response to a gesture associated with an item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) displayed on a display system, identify an interaction model (300, 400, 900) specific to a format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118); wherein to identify the interaction model (300, 400, 900), the program instructions direct the processing system to identify the format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) and select the interaction model (300, 400, 900) from a plurality of interaction models (300, 400, 900) associated with a plurality of formats, wherein the format comprises a one of the plurality of formats; identify a response to the gesture in accordance with the interaction model (300, 400, 900); and render the response with respect to the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) on the display surface, the apparatus further comprising the display system configured to accept the gesture by way of a touch interface and display the response to the gesture and the processing system configured to execute the program instructions, wherein the display system is configured to display a multi-format canvas including a plurality of various content items (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) having various formats, wherein at least two formats have differing interaction models (300, 400, 900) relative to each other. in response to a gesture associated with an item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) displayed on a display system, identify an interaction model (300, 400, 900) specific to a format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118); wherein to identify the interaction model (300, 400, 900), the program instructions direct the processing system to identify the format of the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) and select the interaction model (300, 400, 900) from a plurality of interaction models (300, 400, 900) associated with a plurality of formats, wherein the format comprises a one of the plurality of formats; identify a response to the gesture in accordance with the interaction model (300, 400, 900); and render the response with respect to the item (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) on the display surface, the apparatus further comprising the display system configured to accept the gesture by way of a touch interface and display the response to the gesture and the processing system configured to execute the program instructions, wherein the display system is configured to display a multi-format canvas including a plurality of various content items (111, 113, 115, 117, 118) having various formats, wherein at least two formats have differing interaction models (300, 400, 900) relative to each other.