Explorable explanation

Victor distinguishes explorable explanations from isolated interactive widgets and visualizations by the fact that they deliberately guide the attention of their audience towards particular phenomena within the simulation.

In characterizing the concept, Victor explains:[2] Explorable Explanations is my umbrella project for ideas that enable and encourage truly active reading.

I want text to be used as an environment to think in.Some of the ideas Victor espoused in the essay occurred to him while during work with Al Gore on the app version of the 2009 book Our Choice.

[5] The related term "active essays" was used by Alan Kay to refer to text-based explorable explanations,[6] and a major goal of Squeak (the precursor to Scratch) was to allow for the creation of them.

Since the 2000s, explorable explanations have become more common, because of widespread internet access and increased computer graphics possibilities within web browsers, for example via SVG, WebGL, and HTML5 canvas API.

[24][25] The bias is 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[26] that this requirement forces subject matter to be dealt with more rigorously than other mediums such as speculative fiction.

[29] Explorable explanations are increasingly being created by journalists,[30] sometimes by organisations that formerly focused on print news media[31][32] and radio.

[36] 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, drug overdoses, and economics.

In some cases, guidance is intended to come from teachers in a school setting; this is the approach advocated for using PhET Interactive Simulations created by Carl Wieman, and they have been found to be an effective complement to traditional chalk and talk lessons.

Screenshot from Parable of the Polygons by Nicky Case , an explorable explanation that simulates racial segregation , which allows the audience to control how "shapist" the entities in the simulation are.
The PLATO computer system, which predates the personal computer, was the first platform for what would now be called explorable explanations
Screenshot of a Phet simulation, intended for use in a classroom. Since they do not involve a physically present teacher to guide the user's interaction, most explorable explanations instead provide guidance using explanatory text.