In his paper "Modular Structure and Image/Text Sequences: Comics and Interactive Media", George Legrady states: "Meaning in the interactive work is a result of the sequential selection of components that the viewer assembles in the viewing process. The viewer can then be considered as someone who actively constructs the narrative through the assembling of fragmented or modular information elements. The sequential sum of viewed selections becomes the narrative." This approach to interactivity is reflected in his work Slippery Traces.

Discuss how this approach to constructing a narrative changes the roles of the reader and the author in the process of narrative transmission.

The role of the author changes drastically when developing a multi-directional narrative. Not only does he have to come up with a fixed linear narrative, he now has to envision the multitude of possibilities and a whole narrative network of settings, elements and events, which reduces predictability and increases diversity - harnessing the whole idea of interactivity. In a way, the author has to put himself in the shoes of reader, writing narrative possibilities that would most titillate the imagination, and anticipate the form of interactivity that would be most engaging to the reader. Whilst ochestrating the relationships among elements, the author also has to consider the contarian reader who's only aim in life is to break out of the framework/rules. This poses a great problem in designing a perfect working interface which prevents abuse, while trying to achieve as high a level of "free-play" as possible.

The reader now has a more participative and creative role, in which he (should) derive more satisfaction. He is put in power to sequence and assemble "various sets of elements and pre-defined relationships" according to chance and interest, allowing the narrative to evolve in a pre-programmed fashion according to his choices. In this way, the process of closure is transferred from the author to the reader, in that the reader has to connect the different choices he had made into a continuous, linear narrative.

For example, in Slippery Traces, each reader may have a different interpretation on the choices he has made due to the cultural context and environment that he is in. This is also due to the fact that interpretational is based on the relational nature of the meaning of things - "the meaning of things are defined not in themselves, but through their relation to other signs".