Client-Focused Marketing Learning Worlds 5/11/04 Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre p1 1 PERFORMING ARTS RESOURCE CENTERS Opening Museums and Archives to

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Client-Focused Marketing

Learning Worlds 5/11/04 Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatrep1

PERFORMING ARTS RESOURCE CENTERSOpening Museums and Archives to A Wider World

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WHO WE ARE

What we’re NOT

A museum or institution of higher education.

What we ARE

The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre (GSRT) is a theater company based in NYC.

Our mission is to …

Promote and support innovation in the performing arts

Work internationally to shake up the creative environment

Use innovative technology as a tool for encouraging innovation in form and process.

Our audiences are primarily …

Performing arts professionals

K12, undergraduate and graduate students in the performance arts

… and why we have a different perspective on

GloPAC.

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HOW WE’RE INVOLVED

We are developing concepts and templates for public facilities (PARCs)

Interfaces to allow educators, curators, and others to pull material from the GloPAC database and present them in audience-specific environments

We provide the Russian connection to GloPAC

St. Petersburg Museum

Russian historians, translators and archivists

PARC for Meyerhold Memorial Museum in Moscow

We are developing systems for archiving Complex Media Objects

Multimedia formats beyond still images ... animation, video, 3D models

We are encouraging involvement of contemporary theaters in GloPAC

GSRT is a founding

member and consultant to

GloPAC.

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RELEVANT SKILLS

Theater and film Directors Writers Stage Managers Designers

– Set– Costume – Lighting– Projection

Technical production Cinematographers

Digital media Project managers Designers

– Graphics– Animation– 3D

Programmers– Web– Interactive– Database

Digital video production

We bring a wide range of digital media, software design, and performing arts experience to the

GloPAC effort.

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OUR GLOPAC GOALS

From our perspective, it’s important to distinguish clearly between the various goal and objectives of GloPAC-related projects.

In the GloPAC scheme of things, there are two fundamentally different kinds of initiatives, with very different focuses.

– The objective of a GloPAD (Performing Arts Database) initiative is to collect and digitize items from a specific performing arts collection, including the essential archival information associated with each item. The primary goal is preservation.

– The objective of a GloPARC (Performing Arts Resource Center) is to enhance the value of that material by making it more interesting and accessible to a wider range of audiences, including students, artists, and the general public. The goal is education, enlightenment, entertainment.

Although many GloPAC pilot projects combine activities related to both initiatives, we think it’s important to emphasize the distinction in order to clarify our strategies and architectural decisions.

PAD = BUILDING FOUNDATIONS

PARC = OPENING DOORS

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AUDIENCES

One of our guiding concepts as performing artists is a sensitivity to audiences … Who is watching the performance? How many are sitting in the seats? What captures their attention?

PAD audiences The primary audience for a PAD is

scholars and graduate students for a specific performing arts tradition or artist, e.g. Noh, Meyerhold, etc.

PARC audiences PARCs can help expand that

audience in several different directions

– Scholars outside of the specialization

» Other languages/ cultures

» History, art, literature, film

– Students at different educational levels

– To different professional audiences

» Designers, directors, performers, etc.

– To the general publicIn

sid

e s

peci

alt

y Scholars

Outs

ide

spec

ialty

Graduate Students

Undergraduates

K12

Performing Artists

General Public

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BENEFITS

There are potentially enormous benefits to broadening access to PADs through PARCs

Greater visibility and awareness of the tradition or artist

Greater insight from combining observations across traditions and artists

Greater support from more and different constituencies

MORE VALUE / PERSON X MORE PEOPLE = GREATER VALUE

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OPENING DOORS

Building on top of the objective information in the PAD, we can add elements that reach out to new audiences and bring them to the subject …

Organization

Context

Interpretation

Metaphor

At the same time, we can create communities to encourage long-term involvement with the subject matter

How do PARCs open

doors?

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OBJECTIVE VS. INTERPRETIVE CONTENT

The first step is to build an information structure that support the addition of interpretive material, separated from the objective material in the PAD.

PADs based on “objective” information which is specific to the particular media object.

In order to create PARCs which are linked to the PAD material, we need to allow PARC builders to easily add new organizational structure and interpretive material, without disrupting the objective archival material.

The same PAD material might be used in many PARCs, addressed to a wide variety of audiences and purposes.

Metadata

Media Assets

K12 Course Public Site PhD DissertationInterpretive Content

Archival Content

Objective Content

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ANNOTATION TOOLS

The next step is to build tools and facilities that make it easy to link PAD assets into PARC elements.

PARC content can be separated into interface design and annotation, both of which are interpretive decisions by the PARC builder.

In fact, there are always at least two separate interfaces, the Viewer Interface used by the end-user (target audience) of the PARC, and an authoring interface used by the builder (even when building a PARC is done “manually” by a programmer, an interface is still required to the underlying data.

The interface media and the annotation must be stored and tracked, just like the archival data and media, and the links between objective and interpretive data must be preserved.

Metadata

Media Assets

Author Interface Viewer Interface

Interface Builder / Annotation Tracker

Interface / Interaction

GloPAD Objects

GloPAD Data

Interpretive Decisions

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PARC COMPONENTS

Metadata

Media Assets

Author Interface Viewer Interface

AssetTracker

Interface / Interaction

GloPAD Objects

GloPAD Data

Annotation Decisions

What kind of components does a PARC have, and what is its relationship to the PAD components?

Below are some of the elements of theater-related sites that GSRT has built:

– Articles and essays

– Timelines

– Annotated maps or graphics

– Annotated media (video, audio)

– Annotated scripts

– Glossaries and dictionaries

– Customized lists and queries

– Other interactive experiences (exercises, 3D models with annotation, etc.)

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THE PARC BUILDER CONCEPT

GSRT is working with GloPAC to develop a comprehensive “PARC Builder” facility …

The PARC Builder will consist of an integrated series of tools that make it easier to create a variety of different kinds of PARCs for different audiences

Each tool represents a different interface to PAD assets and data

The interfaces are designed to assist PARC authors to achieve their pedagogical goals, explicate and dramatize specialized topics, and provide context to GloPAD content

Articles TimelinesAnnotated

MapsAnnotated

VideoAnnotated

ScriptsCustomized

Queries

GloPAD

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ORGANIZING EXPERIENCES

Maps

Annotated Video

Intro to Asian Theater 201

Linear Experience

Essays

Timelines

Annotated Scripts

Interactive Exercises

Multidimensional Archive

In essence, a media archive is inherently multidimensional.

On the other hand, an “audience experience”, like an undergraduate course, is fundamentally linear, a series of content elements designed to be experienced over time.

One of the most fundamental challenges is helping PARC authors to organize archival data into meaningful experiences

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DRAG AND DROP

The Monkey King

Annotated Script

The PARC Builder tools will allow PARC authors to “drag and drop” elements from GloPADs into end-user interfaces that are organized around a linear metaphor, e.g. an annotated play script.

The objective of the PARC Builder tools is to make it easy for authors to “editorialize”, mediating between the objective multidimensional PAD and the more linear interpretive PARC.

Photos, Costume Designs,

Video Clips

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METAPHORS

We are planning to use software development facilities that allow for a wide range of interactive metaphors and experiences, beyond those available with basic HTML.

Interface software may include Flash, streaming media, VRML, Ajax, etc.

Many of the PARC tools are based on an organizing metaphor … a map, timeline, stage or set.

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PROTO-PARC EXAMPLES

The PARC Builder tools, like GloPAD, are under construction

However, GSRT has developed a number of proto-PARC facilities and concepts

On the following pages are some examples

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INTERACTIVE STUDY GUIDE

These early web-based study guides, sponsored by IBM in

1996, featured interactive graphics, video, and 3D sets.

These early web-based study guides, sponsored by IBM in

1996, featured interactive graphics, video, and 3D sets.

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ONLINE THEATRE SURVEY TEXTBOOK

A rich-media textbook on the web supported a semester-long undergraduate course focused on dramatic theory and critical

writing..

A rich-media textbook on the web supported a semester-long undergraduate course focused on dramatic theory and critical

writing..

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RUSSIAN TEXTBOOK

This online textbook supported a graduate course with

students from theater, film, history, and Russian language

departments.

This online textbook supported a graduate course with

students from theater, film, history, and Russian language

departments.

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3D THEATER MODELS

Both textbooks included audio, video, and interactive exercises, including a variety of animated

and interactive 3D theater and set models that were linked with

digital archives.

Both textbooks included audio, video, and interactive exercises, including a variety of animated

and interactive 3D theater and set models that were linked with

digital archives.

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MEYERHOLD WEB SITE

The Meyerhold website is a prototype for a “community”

PARC that would link to GloPAD, and pull together scholars and

students interested in Meyerhold from around the world.

The Meyerhold website is a prototype for a “community”

PARC that would link to GloPAD, and pull together scholars and

students interested in Meyerhold from around the world.

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MEYERHOLD ETUDE STUDY

The prototype includes video, panoramic photographs, 3D

models and historical timelines. For example, an interactive video application allows users to view

a performance of one of Meyerhold’s Biomechanics

Etudes from 5 different angles.

The prototype includes video, panoramic photographs, 3D

models and historical timelines. For example, an interactive video application allows users to view

a performance of one of Meyerhold’s Biomechanics

Etudes from 5 different angles.

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MEYERHOLD TIMELINE AND ARCHIVE

This historical timeline is linked to set designs and

production photos.

This historical timeline is linked to set designs and

production photos.

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COSTUME COLLECTION

For the Theater Development Fund, we created a prototype of an online

version of their costume collection, with over 50,000 items.

For the Theater Development Fund, we created a prototype of an online

version of their costume collection, with over 50,000 items.

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COSTUME COLLECTION RESEARCH PAGE

Besides extensive query facilities, the prototype included historical background, video tutorials and

3D “object movies”, allowing you to see a costume from all

directions.

Besides extensive query facilities, the prototype included historical background, video tutorials and

3D “object movies”, allowing you to see a costume from all

directions.

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COSTUME COLLECTION TIMELINE

A timeline provided an historical overview with links to archival

images and background essays.

A timeline provided an historical overview with links to archival

images and background essays.

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CONCLUSIONS

PARCs are the public face of PADs.

As new projects and collections are developed, new opportunities will be created to provide wider access.

Both efforts are synergistic and mutually dependent

A PARC is useless without a PAD, and a PAD without a PARC has limited value to the world outside the specialist community.

As online audiences and technologies grow, the opportunities will expand exponentially.

From K12 to the general public, all segments of global society are turning to Internet-based content for education and entertainment.

GloPAC today is just at the beginning of an exciting effort to open up performing arts collections to a wider world.

The concepts and tools that

support PARCs will evolve as

GloPAD expands its collections.

Documents

Client-Focused Marketing Learning Worlds 5/11/04 Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre p1 1 PERFORMING ARTS RESOURCE CENTERS Opening Museums and Archives to