I have been really thinking about the use of digital mediums that I’m using in the process and product.  A number of questions arise in my mind.

• Has the wiki and the blog been a valuable tool for the process?
• Will the wiki and the blog be valuable after the process for the exegesis?
• Are the the social networking sites we are developing for the characters going to be beneficial?
• Will the student audience look at these sites?
• Will they add another level of engagement for the student audience?
• Will this provide an avenue for teachers to work on follow up material?
• Have all of these been valuable as research?

The blog and the wiki seem to have proven themselves as valuable throughout the process so far.  The blog for recount rehearsals and the process and reflecting on thoughts that will hopefully be of use for my exegesis.  The wiki while not as interactive as I would have hoped have still been valuable for me to post my ideas and the others to read and engage with them.  It is a great medium as well being able to post all types of media – text, image, sound, movie, and links to other digital media sites.

I also wonder about how valuable using this technology has been for the ensemble.  We are engaging with all of the technology that could be used to cyber bully another. This is in a way a form of research and I would argue an effective one.  It has really given me a greater perspective for how easy could be to cyber bully another on a variety or different digital mediums.  I could create a blog or wiki which bullied another.  Fake myspace accounts which degrade someone.

In regards to the profiles we created for the characters it will be interesting to see if any students engage with them and to see what develops.  I think it’s really an interesting avenue to explore and it would be great to really have the time to explore this further.  I also wonder if having these is going to be a factor that gets students engaged with the content a little more.

My supervisor has been asking me what I’m thinking about design.  I’ve put a very detailed initial design concept up on the wiki.  I thought a brief run down would be in order though.

• computer keys like Esc or letters that can be used to sit and stand on in space
• a blue network cable spiderweb
• A wall for posting on
• costume design cyber punk, school uniforms that make links to current digital media
• motherboards, keyboards, mouses, mobile phones, network cables all attached to costume
• Parody movies
• filmed web based things such as myspace, facebook, MSN, etc
• sounds and music will also be used

I just want to reflect on the idea of the web.  I think it is a good metaphor for our show because it relates to the fact that the action sometimes takes place on the wwweb, also that there is this web narrative, but most off all that the characters feel trapped and that they possible don’t have the power to escape the web.

An image also comes to mind of possibly the last moment in the performance being the character who commits suicide standing on the Esc key as if about to jump or hang and then disconnecting his network cable and black.

On the train home last Thursday I had an idea about making the performance more interactive and today I’ve had another thought (yet different) about how the play could be made interactive. I guess I’ll start with Thursday’s idea first.

On the train I was thinking about a band that I had heard of (maybe radio head) that had created an interactive trail that could be followed via website. So once you had bought the CD there was an address on the cover and that led to a website which gave some insight into one or more of the songs on the CD and may have again led to another website and another trail. I thought that this could be a definite posibility using MySpace, Facebook or another social networking website. So the idea would be to set up fake “MySpaces” for the characters or some of the characters in the show so that they could be used directly in the show or after the shows, students could go and investigate them seeing photo’s, movies or blogs that directly relate to the show. In a way they could also become teaching resources for use in the classroom before or after the show and which all students/teachers have access to. From my experience MySpace (or other social networking sites) is something that student’s interacting with, so student’s could be added as friends and leave comments on the “Space” which could again generate more discussion or material for use in the classroom.

My second idea which I had today came from looking at the tutorial for the Wikispaces for teachers in which it discussed some of the possible ways that a wiki could be used in the classroom to enhance student learning. One of the idea’s suggested was using a wiki for collaborative classroom story writing. I thought therefore I could start a wiki with this same intention. Working with one or multiple school groups they could have some influence over the creation of the narrative, characters, etc as it begins to develop and finally come to fruition before starting rehearsals. This has implications for use in the classroom in both the creating and making, and exploring and responding dimensions of the VELS (Victorian Essential Learning Standards) curriculum.

Anyway those are just my two idea’s about how I could make the process and performance more interactive for students.

Well, I guess this is hello world… again? I have just come across from Vineblogs where I had my Nick’s all things uni drama blog which covered a range of drama, theatre and education undertakings over approximately the course of the last two years. I had planned on continuing with that blog but instead have been advised to make the move over here. On my previous blog my last post discussed (some what vaguely) what I had intended to use that blog for but which now I’m using this one instead. So if you want to see what this blog is all about check out my about page instead of going back to the other blog. But by all means go and check it out if you want to read about some of the other things I’ve undertaken. So i guess that’s it for now while I try and figure out some more of the features of this thing.