TMAP Design Cards for Technology-Mediated Audience Participation in Live Music

Abstract

Historically, audiences have had various ways to participate in live music performances, including clapping, dancing, swaying, whistling, and singing. More recently, mobile and wireless devices, such as smartphones have opened up powerful new opportunities for audience participation. However, design for technology-mediated audience participation (TMAP) can be challenging: musicians and audiences have different demands, as does the coherence of the music, and group needs can vary widely. Thus, effective TMAP design requires the balancing of knowledge from diverse perspectives and must take into account the needs of diverse roles in creating and supporting performances. This chapter focuses on the process of creating and evaluating a set of design cards to support the interaction design and evaluation of TMAP systems. The cards are based on a previously created descriptive framework for supporting interaction design and evaluation in this challenging area. We discuss the conception and development of the TMAP design cards in some detail, and present an empirical study to evaluate their practical usefulness. Particular attention is paid to the ability of the cards to support finding ideas, changing ideas, and examining ideas from different perspectives.