Curious learning, cultural bias, and the learning curve

Today's interactive installations are characterized by simplistic feedback mechanisms, limited underlying databases of content, and very little autonomous intelligence. Yet even these rudimentary systems provide great opportunities for curious learning, surprise, and serendipitous discovery. They also serve as a social nexus. The interpersonal, back-channel communications and ancillary activities of the audience, which currently remain largely unsensed and unprocessed, can be just as important as the primary authored experience. The key to accessing and communicating larger perceptions in the digital age may well lie in the collective social activities that occur within the context of shared narratives. The exchanges and experiences of group exploration and discovery, communal curious learning promises rewards far beyond the mere enjoyment of story and the instant gratifications of an individual's remote control.