Interactive computing

Interactive computing refers to any creative process in which a preliminary or final version of a work is the result of interactions between a person and a programmed machine. The proportion of the work that is the product of the machine, and the proportion that is the product of a human may vary. In many cases, as with word processing programs, the machine contributes little to the creation of a work; it is "transparent" to the writer’s creativity. But with some programs, such as those that summarize (abstract) written articles, the processing done by the computer could constitute “an original work of authorship" if it were done by a human being. Indeed, the machine itself is at once a series of processes, concepts and syntheses of human intelligence "so mixed that it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate its parts from the whole.” Interactive computing takes many forms, and cuts across many disciplines.