Hyperrhiz 11
#OutsideUrDoor | _feralC_: Two Netprovs
Mez Breeze
Citation: Breeze, Mez. “#OutsideUrDoor | _feralC_: Two Netprovs.” Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, no. 11, 2015. doi:10.20415/hyp/011.g04
Abstract: Documentation of two Twitter Netprovs by Mez: #OutsideUrDoor, and _feralC_.
#OutsideUrDoor
#OutsideUrDoor was a Live Mixed-Reality/Netprov Performance Event created simultaneously via Twitter and physically at the Inspace Gallery as part of Inspace's "No One Can Hear You Scream"/The Third International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling.
#OutsideUrDoor tweets the black comedy story of @vvolfmaan [a hybrid Lycanthrope], @MrShamble [a somewhat reluctant Zombie], and @Nozfera2 [a belligerent Vampire]. At the beginning of the tweetplay, Nosfera2 is attempting to direct Mr Shamble and VVolfmaan to #attackthehumaninside. Unfortunately, Mr Shambles, being true to his name but not his traditional Zombie nature, isn't being helpful at all, while VVolfman is obviously verbally challenged [though Mr Shambles seems to understand him perfectly]. The three volley instructions and discussions back and forth while the audience is left wondering just *what* type of human is actually in the house they have surrounded...
The primary Twitter tag that housed the story was #OutsideUrdoor, which collated the primary character [as well as any audience] contributions that helped shaped the resultant plot. The secondary Twitter hashtag was #attackthehumaninside. The complete narrative was knitted together through the @MrShamble, @Nozfera2 and @vvolfmaan Twitter character contributions and crucial netsearch images, as well as the #OutsideUrDoor hashtag, via multiple screen projections, soundtrack and audio cues, which combined with hyperlinked clues with geophysical audience participation with those exclusively in the Twittersphere. The narrative gradually unfolded in front of a live audience based in Scotland [with a deliberate ambiguity being furnished in order to question if the characters were discussing entering the Gallery Space, or an individual Twitter user's residency, in order to #attackthehumaninside] as well as those following the hashtag/character contributions on Twitter.
#OutsideUrDoor was commissioned by New Media Scotland's Inspace Gallery event in 2010, specifically to coincide with Halloween [on October the 31st]. The theme of #OutsideUrDoor project was crafted specifically with this in mind. The physical gallery performance ran for only a short time: for 15 minutes, from 9.30 to 9.40 pm, in 2010. The performance was co-ordinated to run simultaneously in a Mixed Reality zone: that is, with media components running live in the physical gallery space, and virtually via an aggregated Twitter stream. The audience had the option of attending the live venue at the Inspace Gallery, and/or watching the tweetstream of each of the characters unfurl online, and/or becoming part of the narrative by hashtag responding directly with the characters through their Tweetstreams.
VIEW Exemplary transcripts (pdf)
READ Commentary by Leonardo Flores
_feralC_
_feralC_ is a "Socumentary"* [or Netprov] which is textually driven by the interactions of five Twitter characters ["primary chars"] and their Pupa Mistress [PM]. The PM initially functions as a Twitter based information hub for the tweet interactions between the chars and the audience, and those audience members choosing to actively narrative-participate [or "secondary chars"]. In _feralC_, all the primary characters are thrown together in a scientific experiment run by Dr Pupa Mistress. Dr Pupa Mistress is a Behavioural Augmentologist for the #feralC Project, and who is originally from Aultsville, Canada. All 5 subjects are part of a Social Networking group study performed in discrete hour-long group interaction sessions. Each subject has voluntarily decided to take part [all except @shadowmcclone + @QReada: Shadow has been forced into it as part of an unspecified "...deal with the author-ee-tays" [deal with the authorities]. Gossama also makes a point of being paid to do it ["...all i want is my moolah at the end"]. All of the primary characters, although they are completely unaware of it, are actually forms of new technology that are [in some ways] mimicking sentience: for instance, Gossama is an experimental AI NPC character thinking they are an actual human playing World of Warcraft, and Shadow McClone is the [spikey] interface end of military-constructed UAV/Drone control algorithm [who thinks they are a human male]. The input from the secondary characters [ie real persons who chose to participate in the sessions] helped shape the Season 1 storyline.
The _feralC_ story developed as the 5 primary chars [characters] chatted and interact through their tweet dialogue[s]:
As the five primary chars were unveiled, secondary chars were encouraged to participate in the project's flow by following and responding to each individual char via Twitter, using the #feralC hashtag. Audience members were drawn into the narrative flow and actively shaped the story through their participation via Twitter: alternatively, they could absorb the project via the feralC Tweet list and blog entries. The project was serial in nature, and was comprised of hour-long realtime Sessions where the characters tweeted to each other while using the #feralC hashtag. Series 1, Episode 1 was funded by Geoff Cox on behalf of Arnolfini Gallery, was both commissioned and shown as part of the Lingua Franca Exhibition.