A poetry performance in a collaborative virtual environment

The article presents the design of a poetry performance in a collaborative virtual environment (CVE) and discusses the experience of staging this performance to an audience of 200 members of the general public. The performance involved an extensive collaboration among computer scientists, poets, a graphic artist, and an event production team. The article explores a range of technical and production issues arising from this experience, including: developing rich and engaging forms of content for CVEs; exploring the tension between autonomy of action for audience members and the management of a performance to encourage appropriate behaviors at relevant times and places; considering spatial scoping techniques in enabling different modes of awareness and communication between participants as an event unfolds; developing appropriate embodiments for performers and audience; developing appropriate navigation interfaces for different participants who may or may not have experienced virtual reality (VR); exploring different ways of situating interfaces to a virtual environment within different physical environments based on notions of mixed reality; understanding the issues involved in designing and managing such an event and how these might influence construction tools for CVEs.