Interaction: Is it Really the Next Frontier?

I have been working on a presentation to describe Interactive Design to an audience that thinks it is the same as print and animation. The struggle has been defining this area of design that we in the business like to think of as being such a new way of working. I think it boils down to what is really the meaning of interaction?

I remember talking to Gail, a bookophile, who took issue with my statement that a book is a low level of interaction. I was thinking linear - page turner - one-way directional format. To Gail, a book was a very high level of interaction because it involved the human's imagination to contruct the action described in the book. She wasn't thinking mechanically, like what button to push to get a response. She wasn't thinking mechanical whirs, blips and bleeps. She was thinking about the richness of the human brain and the world it constructed.