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Screenshot from Parable of the Polygons, an explorable explanation that simulates segregation within neighbourhoods, and allows the user to control how "shapist" the entities in the simulation are.

An explorable explanation (often shortened to explorable) is a computer-based tutorial that utilize explanatory text alongside interactive widgets in order to explain a concept. Explorable explanations utilize interactive diagrams, simulations, and data visualizations to promote active reading by encouraging users to interacting directly with a representation of the concept that they are trying to learn about.

("explorable" should redirect here. And plurals of both phrases, does that happen automatically?)

Explorable Explanations are different from gamification[1], which is focused on using computers to improve the structure of rewards. An explorable explanation may or may not involve rewards.

History

The term "explorable explanation" was first used in passing in a 1994 paper published by Peter Brusilovsky, however it did not enter into common use until Bret Victor published an eponymous 2011 essay[2] that included an explorable explanation of a Digital filter. Some of the ideas occurred to Victor while he was working with Al Gore on app version of the 2009 book Our Choice[3].

The PLATO computer system, which predates the personal computing, was the first platform for what would now be called explorable explanations

Early computer systems utilized similar design techniques to explorable explanations[4][5], although they were not described as such. For example, the Plato system, a computer-assisted instructional system created in 1960, used interactive examples to teach concepts to students. There's this thing http://www.playfulinvention.com/emergence/ from '96. PhET_Interactive_Simulations simulations too. And they have academic research here https://phet.colorado.edu/en/research.

Some video games also use design elements of that are common to explorable explanations, although they may be more focused on entertainment than education. For example Sim City utilizes a complex city simulation to allow players to develop cities. Braid and Portal also involve elements of puzzle solving that force players to interact with complex systems in order to find solutions.

The limiting factor for a long time was software platform. Some were distributed on CD ROM. The internet came along with flash and java applets. WebGL and HTML5 Canvases allow complex interactive graphics to be embedded in webpages, meaning that a complex simulation can be shared on social media and accessed instantly.

The Landlord's Game could be described as a physical explorable; along with certain pop-up books[6].


Although many explorable explanations are created by educators and game developers, they have also been widely used in popular media[7]. Explorable explanations have been created and released by organisations that formerly focused on Print news media[8][9] and radio[10]. For example, in 2015 FiveThirtyEight collaborated with The Marshall Project to produce an article[11] on prison parole assessment that included a explorable explanation of the effects of policy changes on prison populations. The article was cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as an example of how explorable explanations could be used to advance digital storytelling[12].

Other newsrooms such as Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Times, and The Guardian are also notable for their use of explorable explanations to tell stories, for example covering topics like climate change, [8][9][13][14][15][16][17]. FiveThirtyEight has also used explorable explanations to cover topics such as gun violence[18] and p hacking[19].

Form

Explorable explanations are distinguished from simulations by the fact that they deliberately guide the attention of the person interacting with them towards particular phenomena within the simulation; if the explorable explanation does not provide this "guidance", it is unlikely that the user will encounter and think about the thing that they are supposed to learn[2]. Different explorable explanations may have a different style of guidance.

Most explorable explanations, this is almost always accomplished using prose[examples]. This allows back-and-forth / pacing.

Some others involve voice-over narration[20][21], which allow

Virtual reality-based explorable explanations exist[22].

Subject matter

There is a bias towards explorable explanations focussing on mathematics and scientific subjects that are quantitative, as opposed to social science; in spite of this, some of the most popular explorable explanations are about social science[23][24]. The bias is probably due to the fact that explorable explanations involve a programmed simulation which is required to follow a consistent mathematical model or formal system. Jonathan Blow has argued[25] that this requirement forces subject matter to be dealt with more rigourously than other mediums such as speculative fiction.

Maybe something here about many folks coming from the games industry and therefore having game engine development stuff?

Additionally, since the simulation requires a visualization, there is a certain bias towards things that deal with geometry; for example, there are at least three explorable explanations about special relativity[26][27] including A Slower Speed of Light.

Platforms

Several programs and platforms for explorable explanations exist, including observable hq[28] created by Mike Bostock, which uses a Notebook interface.

Idyll.

Monetization continues to be a problem for explorable explanations.

The economics of software intended to be used in schools make them an unattractive target. EEs tend to be specific, i.e. you can only use one per lesson. The responsibility of schools, in general, is to teach the content of a syllabus which is then assessed through a standardized test. To be used by a school, an explorable explanation therefore has to use the exact terminology and emphasis that appears in the syllabus.

Soliciting donations

There's museums.

There's Steam.

References

  1. ^ "Explorable Explanations". Nicky Case's Blog. 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  2. ^ a b "Explorable Explanations". worrydream.com. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  3. ^ Pavlus, John (2011-11-09). "After Trying To "Kill Math," An Ex-Apple Designer Aims To Kill Reading". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  4. ^ Singley, Mark K. (1991). "MOLEHILL: An Instructional System for Smalltalk Programming". Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI '91. New York, NY, USA: ACM: 439–440. doi:10.1145/108844.108992. ISBN 9780897913836.
  5. ^ Redmiles, David F. (1993). "Reducing the Variability of Programmers' Performance Through Explained Examples". Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. CHI '93. New York, NY, USA: ACM: 67–73. doi:10.1145/169059.169082. ISBN 9780897915755.
  6. ^ "The Most Amazing Science Pop-Up Book". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  7. ^ Joho, Jess (2015-09-25). "Your brain on anxiety: an interactive explanation with Nicky Case". Kill Screen. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  8. ^ a b Scheiber, Noam (2017-04-02). "How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  9. ^ a b Evershed, Nick; Ball, Andy; Liu, Ri; Davey, Melissa. "Hooked: how pokies are designed to be addictive". the Guardian. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  10. ^ "Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  11. ^ Barry-Jester, Anna Maria (2015-08-04). "Should Prison Sentences Be Based On Crimes That Haven't Been Committed Yet?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  12. ^ "Could ‘explorable explanations’ help tell a new kind of story?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  13. ^ Bostock, Mike; Carter, Shan; Tse, Archie (2014-05-21). "Is It Better to Rent or Buy?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  14. ^ Harris, Rich; Popovich, Nadja; team, Kenton Powell on the Guardian US interactive; Harris, Rich; Popovich, Nadja; team, Kenton Powell on the Guardian US interactive. "Watch how the measles outbreak spreads when kids get vaccinated – and when they don't". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  15. ^ Aisch, Gregor; Cox, Amanda (2015-03-18). "A 3-D View of a Chart That Predicts The Economic Future: The Yield Curve". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  16. ^ "Bloomberg - Are you a robot?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  17. ^ Roston, Eric (2015-06-24). "Bloomberg - What's Really Warming the World?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-01-25. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  18. ^ Jones, Maya A. (2016-07-14). "FiveThirtyEight breaks down the more than 33,000 annual U.S. gun deaths". The Undefeated. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  19. ^ King, Ritchie (2015-08-19). "Science Isn't Broken". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  20. ^ "Visualizing quaternions, an explorable video series". eater.net. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  21. ^ "Neurotic Neurons". ncase.me. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  22. ^ A virtual reality tool for mathematical modeling! Contribute to matryx/calcflow development by creating an account on GitHub, MATRYX, 2019-01-18, retrieved 2019-01-19
  23. ^ Horti, Samuel (2017-07-30). "The Evolution of Trust is a cute explain-o-game about cooperation". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  24. ^ Bliss, Laura. "An Immersive Game Shows How Easily Segregation Arises—and How We Might Fix It". CityLab. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  25. ^ Glen Chiacchieri, Storytime with Jonathan Blow at PAX East 2016, retrieved 2019-01-21
  26. ^ www.lucify.com https://www.lucify.com/inside-einsteins-head/. Retrieved 2019-01-21. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. ^ "Velocity Raptor". testtubegames.com. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  28. ^ "Observable". beta.observablehq.com. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
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