Interactive Visual Explainers.

"Interactives are one of the first experiments in interactive journalism. They are brief Web-based interactive visual explainers. They are designed to explain complex concepts or ideas. Of late, they are usually created in Macromedia Flash or Macromedia Director. Since the practice is new, different names are used to describe it -- 'Flash Infographics,' 'Motion Graphics,' and 'Interaction Graphics' are some we've come across. We like 'Interactives' because it embodies interaction -- the building block of the Web -- and thus does not bring across any preconceived notions from the print world." [xBlog: The visual thinking weblog | XPLANE]

The actual article here is by Maish at elearningpost.com, and this is relayed through xBlog. Interactives are a journalistic initiative at present, but there certainly are parallels and applications to e-Learning and to EPSS. We used to call them "advance organizers" in formal instructional design. These interactive visual explainers are still pretty much "lectures in boxes" or encyclopedia entries with moving pictures and sound, despite the name. However, the name is catchy and you may find yourself having the opportunity to craft some "interactives" for clients.

10:22:31 PM