This thesis investigates the processes by which media evolve in order to suggest future directions for the digital medium. It develops the notion of content-lag to describe the time-span between the introduction of a medium and the point at which it is used to produce artifacts which exploit the affordances particular to that medium to their fullest. Current difficulties in developing strong content in the digital medium are discussed in terms of content-lag. The thesis then argues that a more considered approach to interactivity will assist in decreasing content-lag in the digital medium. A framework is proposed for rediscovering the ways in which interactivity is deployed in the digital medium. The arguments of the thesis are embodied in project work which explores the possibilities of a computer-based poetic genre. This project work exists as a collection dynamic poems, which are available for interaction on a companion CD-ROM.