Rob, Impact and implications of web audiences.. Putting some of David's, Johannes', & Scott's, points together - web currently lacks the interactivity and real time feedback between audience and performance (especially to a group audience) in much the same way as the isolations of Live Radio & Television Broadcasts. Sure the audience can participate through truly bi-directional mapping technologies / techniques but the lack of a physically present audience will always (except possibly until the arrival of mass produced fully immersive environments) have dramatic impacts on the quality and spontaneity of the performance. The "moment of live communication", if I interpret your meaning correctly, will suffer due to the impersonality and remoteness of the medium both for the performers as much as the audience. Take for example a Radio Phone-In Chat Show. The DJ has control of the performance both in style and content, the participating members are screened / filtered / ordered / prioritised... and in nearly all cases fed "on-air" one at a time. Even through there is a mass audience, the DJ only has interaction with one caller at any one time (too many and it is no-longer a show but a free for all debate!). The DJ needs a degree of control over the situation (also read environment) to be able to give a performance. However, put an audience in a room (Jerry Springer style) for the same Chat Show and you have a completely different more spontaneous and energetic show, why - the physical presence of the audience allows not only the host to react much more quickly (ad-lib) to the "mass" mood AND individuals, but also the reverse that each member of the audience is now interacting / reacting to all the other members of the audience - where one person may not laugh at something as an individual siting at home in-front of their computer - social psychology dictates that they probably will if 300 other people are laughing all around them in a studio. OK - nothing new so far. Where I thing very interesting things are going to be happening in the immediate future is in the presentation and selection of material by a remote user - pseudo interactivity. Maybe have a look at what is currently being developed for the on-line Television industry - Football matches where the audience member can select any camera angle in the whole stadium, replay any shot "on- demand", pull up statistics and additional information that add to the overall understanding and enjoyment of the game. Examine the shows that required the audience to obtain more information during the "show-time" and the relationship of dis-jointed time management in much the same manner as museum tour dictation machines allow the viewer to gain additional info whilst viewing a work of art - but still allows them to select and interact with all the information / history that may add to their personal experience or understanding of the scene. In that sense the web is being used as a storage / retrieval system, but where mapping can play an additional role is in the dynamic presentation of the same scene with vastly different visual, auditory, and now with the web - the reference and activation of other information contexts controlled by the live real time "capture" of performance whether motion capture, voice recognition, or manually controlled. The performance boundaries are no longer stage based where the only stimuli the audience can receive are limited to the design of the show (e.g. visual and audio), but also to the surrounding context and supply of information that augment the piece as a whole and it may prove interesting to research the effects (especially time-based) of the accessing and digestion of that additional material in relation to the enjoyment or distraction from the performance. Best regards, Richard Widgery mailto:richardw@kinetic-impulse.com KINETIC IMPULSE - Digital Performance Consultants ------------------------------------------------- http://www.kinetic-impulse.com Tel: +44 (0) 7050 644818 Fax: +44 (0) 7092 284625
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