Interactive video
combination of linear film or video with user interaction
The term interactive video usually refers to a technique used to blend interaction and linear film or video. Interactive video (also known as "IV") is a form of digital video that supports user interaction. Interactive videos provide the viewer the ability to click, on a desktop, or touch on mobile devices within the video for an action to occur. These clickable areas, or "hotspots," can perform an action when clicked or touched. For example, the video may display additional information, jump to a different part of the video or another video, or may change the storyline.
One popular use of interactive video technology is to add clickable points or 'hotspots' to the video, which allow the viewer to learn more about a particular object, product, or person in the video. A hotspot can trigger content to appear within the video such as text, images, videos or additional web content that can be set within an iframe.
History
In 1962, Steve Russell, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), created Spacewar!, the world's first interactive computer game.
The first interactive film, The Cinema Machine, was released in 1967. While watching this film, the audience in the cinema theatre would choose one of two scenes during the plot fork.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Interactive video” as combination of linear film or video with user interaction. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as combination of linear film or video with user interaction. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3495514. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1962 and 1967.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Interactive video”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Interactive video primary sources, Interactive video archive and Interactive research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Interactive video”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Interactive video” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.