User Not Found: Social Media Technologies as Immersive Performance

该项目旨在刺激身临其境的剧场表演和软件应用程序的创新，这些应用程序可以构成表演的组成部分。它汇集了来自雷丁大学和巴斯大学、戏剧公司Dante or Die和创意技术公司Marmelo的学者。它探讨了如何在公共表演活动的背景下，共同和个别地与观众互动，以利用现场互动技术的能力。该项目将包括创建一个名为“未找到用户”的表演，Marmelo将为其制作一款用于互动移动设备的应用程序，可以在剧院表演和其他类型的公共活动中使用。该应用程序的开发将通过远程触发器模拟移动或平板设备的正常操作，但有可能针对各种情况进行开发，包括通过智能手机技术提供字幕，改善聋人和残疾观众的机会，加强观众的参与和互动，并促进一系列文化活动的身临其境的体验。目前，发达国家大多数人的生活和记忆都得到了表达，并伴随着他们的电子通信历史、社交媒体互动和他们收集的数据，如照片、视频和音乐。社交媒体痕迹是身份认同不可或缺的一部分，而不是作为反思、扭曲或延伸而次要的。人与社交媒体生活之间的关系在人死后变得特别明显和有问题，在老龄化的过程中，人们可能会通过精心制作数字遗产来为死亡做准备，从而反思自己的身份并寻求传递一种版本的自己。在Dante or Die的表演《User Not Found》中，主角通过其已故伴侣的数字痕迹体验了丧亲和哀悼，表演将聚焦于生、死、身份和社交媒体之间的关系，使用Marmelo开发的身临其境的技术来探索用户死亡后互联网和网站遗产的主题。由于表演的主题是社交媒体技术和死亡，该项目将利用CI John Troyer博士的专业知识，探索围绕死亡的行业，例如悲痛顾问、葬礼指导和律师，如何解决互联网遗产的问题。例如，在人机交互、信息科学、老龄化和死亡研究等领域开展了这方面的研究，并在电视连续剧《黑镜》等流行媒体中进行了探索。这项研究资助申请是为了开发一个建立在最初基础上的项目，包括与预期的合作者和专家合作，并赢得用于绩效发展的研发资金。它将使用身临其境的戏剧表演和在线软件应用程序，为一系列观众群体探索和辩论虚拟生活、死亡、记忆和身份认同的问题。为了传播这项工作，该项目将利用现有的场馆网络，定期支持和主办国防部的表演，在非传统表演空间上演“找不到的用户”，从而鼓励新的观众群体。该项目将为“找不到用户”创造机会，与相关的利益相关者--如社交媒体公司、葬礼承办人、丧亲顾问--一起参加参与性研讨会。

This project is designed to stimulate innovation in immersive theatre performance and in software applications that can form an integral part of a performance. It brings together academics from the Universities of Reading and Bath, the theatre company Dante or Die and the creative technology company Marmelo. It explores how to engage with spectators both collectively and individually to exploit the capabilities of live interactive technology in the context of a public performance event. The project will include the creation of a performance, titled 'User Not Found', for which Marmelo will produce an app for interactive mobile devices that can be exploited in theatre performances and other kinds of public events. The app will be developed to simulate, via remote triggers, the normal operation of a mobile or tablet device but has the potential to be developed for various contexts, including improving access for deaf and disabled audiences, through captioning via smartphone technology, enhancing audience participation and interactivity and contributing to immersive experiences in a range of cultural events Currently, the lives and memories of most people in developed countries are expressed and accompanied by their history of electronic communications, their social media interactions and their collections of data such as photographs, videos and music. Social media traces are integral to identity, rather than being secondary to it as reflections, distortions or extensions. The relationship between people and their social media lives becomes particular clear and problematic after death and in the process of ageing, people may prepare for death by crafting their digital legacy thus reflecting on their identity and seeking to pass on a version of themselves. In Dante or Die's performance, 'User Not Found', the central character experiences bereavement and mourning via the digital traces of his dead partner and the performance will focus on the relationship between life, death, identity and social media, using the immersive technology developed by Marmelo to explore the topic of internet and website legacies, following the death of a user. Since the topic of the performance is social media technology and death, the project will draw on the expertise of CI Dr. John Troyer, to explore ways in which industries surrounding death, for example, grief counsellors, funeral directors and lawyers, are addressing the issue of an internet legacy. Research in this area has been carried out in the fields of Human Computer Interaction, Information Science, Ageing and Death Studies, for example, and it has been explored in popular media representations such as the television series Black Mirror. This research grant application is to develop a project that builds on initial groundwork, including with intended collaborators and experts and winning R&D funding for performance development. It will use immersive theatre performance alongside an online software application, to explore and debate issues of virtual life, death, memory and identity for a range of audience constituencies.To disseminate the work, the project will draw on the existing networks of venues that regularly support and host DOD performances to stage 'User Not Found' in non-traditional performance spaces, and thus encourage new audience constituencies. The project will create opportunities for 'User Not Found' to form part of participatory workshops with relevant stake-holders: e.g. social media companies, funeral directors, bereavement counsellors..