As a producer in 2001 I attended numerous pitches with cross-platform projects developed with a leading independent broadcast documentary production company.
Whilst there was always an eagerness to have these meetings it proved quite impossible to raise finances at a time when most organisations were scrutinising their web-production budgets and pulling back, or pulling out.
One project was developed through the European TV and Film development initiative EAVE.
Nine years on it is interesting to see that efforts are once again being made with such ideas, however, they are growing from the Internet as a platform, rather than the TV and a computer sitting side by side.
Observing with interest my 12 year old following a make lifted from YouTube in one frame while watching an episode of the Simpsons in another on this laptop while also sliding through a music video on an iTouch made me realise that interaction for his generation is multifaceted.
As an aside, intrigued that Google is the same age as him, 12, he reflected on what browser we used before Google. The suggestion that we used books to find out information left him dumbfounded. The world has moved on.
We used to talk about activities such as watching TV or reading a book as "sit back" while using a computer or video game was "sit forward."
I wonder if the reality, like finding a point of equilibrium on a rocking-chair isn't a bit of both?
You can watch a TV programme, and play a video game? They can be different things, rather than interacting ... indeed they being separate activities, affording different ways of engagement, makes this set up possible.
Which leaves me with a final thought -
We can watch two or more linear TV programmes simultaneously without losing the thread, but try doing two video games at the same time. They're not static like chess.