HiTech and Improv

At the conference, I convened an Open Space session to explore how hitech 'things' and improv 'things' could enhance each other. Scribed and blogged here are some of the results. Many references and links have been added here.

And a request from those who attended or who are interested in further exploring with us, there's lots of comment space here. Join in the discussion!

Notes on HiTech and Improv

Directions for Exploration

How does hitech change improv? How can improv be done using different technologies? How can we use hitech to enhance applied improv work? Can e-learning or e-communicating be made more engaging through use of improv? Can improv be performed when performers are not physically together?

First off, we compared doing improv (in business and performance environments) and using hi tech (gadgets, software, computers), and found similarities:

• interactive
• collaborate
• feedback
• community building / team building
• expression
• engaging

and differences:

• physical presence require or not required
• asynchronous vs synchronous interaction
• recordable

Throughout the session we looked for ways to do improv over communication technologies, and how technology could be used to facilitate or enhance improv-inspired communities. This lead to improv games we could play without being physically present, games that can be played through time rather than synchronously, and the impact of new media on what improvisors could do - new games, new ways to communicate, expanding the language of improv in non-physical interactions. Games like 'Word' came up.

Some Newer Technologies

• telepresence
• videos NEW LINK: The Neutrino Project: "Neutrino is a film. Neutrino is a theatrical show. Neutrino is an elementary particle that physicists get very excited about. The group has broken new improvisational ground with the Neutrino Video Projects. With three cameras and a large technical crew, we take to the streets to shoot, edit, score, and mix a completely improvised movie in the time it takes for you to watch it."
• webinars
• phone / conference calls
• online whiteboards
• improvised movie - no editing NEW LINK: Stanford/ LA improv performance: CyberSimp: The first ever live improv theatre performance between remote locations took place on May 27th 2003 between Stanford and UCLA.
• (improvised) podcast - discussion about improv radio on podcast - how to add audience interaction and feedback... perhaps pre-recorded alternate endings available ... perhaps improvisors could submit one line, reacting to the previous one, record the sound bytes, create the podcast from the pieces, and publish. Like these: list of improv podcasts
• telling non-linear stories - chatrooms
• visual tech

Further thoughts on the tech..

We asked how the story gets transmitted. And explored virtual handshakes. Are there new ways to 'do' improv using these things? Are we attempting to recreate in new media what worked in old media? Can we find new improv games that would work well with cell phones, SMS, email, blogs, ...

Perhaps just as kids have a text message language, improvisors could look for new langauges in these new media, Marshall McLuhan-style.

Blogging (just like I'm doing right now) as a debriefing tool. Online organic debriefing.

Some ideas and resources to explore

• digital characters which improvise in response
• One World
• Avatars, Agents, and Bots
• The Turing Test - a test for sorting the authentic from the bots (Alan Turing)
• Moos and Muds - textual interactive environments
• Marshall McLuhan - the medium is the message
• Ray Kurzweil - The Brain (personal mind mapping software)
• blogosphere searching - www.grokker.com.
• Brenda Laural: "Computers as Theatre"
• Note - check with Ricci about the 5 videos ...

Cool Stuff

New stuff coming your way from the tech gurus:

• Subservient Chicken (a Burger King commercial launched virally and originally without the BK brand - created tons of buzz) (tell the man in the big chicken suit what to do - seriously. Click it.)
• viral ... marketing
• moblogs (mobile blogs - post photos instantly from anywhere)
• blogs
• flashmobs (use SMS to create an instant meetup anywhere with/without a purpose) (used by that American fellow, Howard Dean, to create mass awareness and involvement - used blogs, moblogs, and flashmob organizing)
• gps scavenger hunts (geocaching)
• smart textiles and wearable computing
• scavenger hunts using cellphones, internet, and gps

What other new games will evolve from these things? Many small start-up companies are organizing improv-like gaming for clients. Many computer gaming companies are incorporating improv-like games into their games along with 'intelligent' agents capable of interacting with you.

Wrap-up Ideas

We briefly mentioned that many people are phobic when it comes to technology, and that having fun with the tech helps them. We looked at how many develop multiple online personas, to protect privacy, to interact anonymously, and to play a different role for awhile. What will the effect of instantaneous translation be on doing improv? Could players from many cultures and countries improv together without a shared language == international improvisation?!

Thanks to all who participated and contributed.

Posted by Carolyn Burke on October 3, 2005 02:03 PM in Annual conference ,
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