I always have this question in my head, how do we use design and technology to do social intervention, or in sociology, breaching experiment, which involve breaking social norms and seeing how people react. To help people to have a better understanding of sociological ideas. Dramaturgy, a web-based social experiments is my first attempt at doing so.
In sociology, Dramaturgy is a term derives from Shakespeare’s quote “All the world's a stage And all the men and women merely players"
This theatrical metaphor of human interaction is first adapted into sociology from the theatre by Erving Goffman. it argued the elements of human interactions are dependent upon time, place, and audience and the goal of this presentation of self is acceptance from the audience through carefully conducted performance.
So here’s the big question: If all the world a stage, how do we make ppl aware of being players in the theater of everyday life? How will they react when they realize they are being watched by the audience?
Dramaturgy has three parts:
(1) a camera that’s on my head to broadcast what I see and my surroundings,
and another camera along with a screen that has been placed in ITP to broadcast what's happening on the floor
(2) a website where people can see what I’m looking at and leave comments about it, and
(3) an iPad screen on my chest that is receiving comments from the website constantly.
Here’s a diagram of how it works. The camera is broadcasting what it sees onto the website where people can leave comments, their comments are then be shown on the screen so all the people around would see. Their reaction will be caught on the camera and broadcast to the website. This circle goes on and on and on.
Dramaturgy forces people to be on stage. Their life is broadcast to invisible audiences who are constantly making comments about them remotely, reminding all the men and women out there they are merely players in this theater of everyday life. The stationary screen I put in ITP proves the point from dramaturgy, people do have the urge of getting acceptance from the audience. They tend to do what people told them to do. (It almost feels like I’ve created an authority which people feels they have to obey)
Following are some videos showcase it in action.
This video is the first time Dramaturgy goes online, at the time I'm testing it using laptop's camera and it was more of a user testing.
This is a super speed-up version of ITP recorded footage.
This is the first time I putted a camera on my head and broadcast what I see.
This is the footage of me wearing all the gears and take a walk on the street of NYC.