I guess you have all seen the news bubbling over the past few weeks. “A European approach to excellence in AI” is now live. An attempt by the European Commission to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence. So far we’ve seen artistic explanations, long Twitter threads breaking down the legislation for us, and even some serious criticism.

We have sent out a newsletter that was about similar issues. New stuff we found while browsing through this digital realm: deep fakes and digital history projects.

Is it all a bit much? Do you feel like everything nowadays has to be interactive and playful just to fit the trend? Is everything ruled by an algorithm? Well, first of all, it’s not a new trend at all. It started a long time ago.

1953: A children’s television programme called Winky Dink and You, begins the move towards interactive TV. Kids in the US buy a special transparent sheet to place over the screen and, using ordinary crayons, help the show’s characters draw things like pathways or tools. The series is discontinued because children begin drawing directly on the TV screen. Ok, this wasn’t a huge success, but it was ahead of its time, so we’ll let it slide. There are many great examples of interactivity used for educational purposes these days. Have you ever wondered where is Poland? See for yourselves, even if you think the question is a bit silly. This rich multimedia guide was financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture, and designed by an award-winning creative agency. We are expecting to see more of these creative projects in 2021 since it is just the kind of interdisciplinary cooperation that the EU is going for this year. Netflix has a whole section dedicated to interactive shows, done in the style of those choose-your-own-adventure books we all had as kids, and even Tinder had to create something in that style, just to keep their users from dropping off the platform because they were getting bored.

All of these things are here to stay. Artificial intelligence assisting in our daily lives, interactive projects designed to grab our attention and gamified education projects showing up when we discuss serious issues. Hopefully, no TVs will be harmed in the process this time.

Ana Skoric,
Content Manager at The Right Street