Learnings from an Iterative Design Process for Technology-Mediated Audience Participation (TMAP) using Smartphones

Abstract

We discuss a setup for technology-mediated audience participation (TMAP)in live music using smartphones and high-frequency sound IDs in a playful setting. The audience needs to install a smartphone app. Using high-frequency sound IDs music samples and colors can be triggered on the audience’s smartphones without the need to have an internet connection. The resulting soundscape is determined by the samples and parameters selected by the artist as well as by the location audience members choose in the performance space. We present the technical basis and iterative explorative design process of such a system for TMAP. The learnings from the perspective of musicians were technical requirements such as low latency, reliability, as well as increasing the number of possible sound samples and sound quality and we further present learnings on creating systems for TMAP from technical and creative perspectives.