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The old definition of interactive experience

By Becky McCray

While we talk about interactive web 2.0 type tools, there’s an older definition of an interactive experience.

Michael McMillan told this story on the Harvey House listserv group, shared by Sandie Olson to Angie Koehn to me.

My wife and I were crusing the Mother Road [Route 66] up in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle 2 weekends ago and happened to stumble into the “Sand Hills Curiosity Shop” in Erick, not knowing what we were getting into. That stop was quite a unique adventure — Harley and Annabelle know how to put the “Kicks” in Route 66 way more than anything else we saw!
…
When thinking over the Harley and Annabelle, “Mediocre Music Makers” experience, the word “interactive” kept coming to mind. People go to museums with so-called “interactive” exhibits, which are nothing but canned computer programs that respond when you push a button. But Harley and Annabelle give an *old/traditional* meaning to the word, glad to entertain a single person who wanders in. I’ve never run into anything like it. It wasn’t exactly the antique store we were expecting when we walked in, just so you’ll be prepared, in case you’re ever in Erick, Okla.
[emphasis added]


How are you making your business truly interactive?


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About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
  • Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
  • In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
  • Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
  • How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
  • The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
  • Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
  • Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
  • Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
  • Huge vacant buildings: grants to renovate? - June 9, 2020
  • Economic self defense for small towns  - June 7, 2020

March 20, 2008 Filed Under: customer service, rural

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