Our work represents what can be possible on a larger scale in online media distribution. Our goal was to demonstrate how a content creator can incorporate their audience into the media they are making in real time, and music is a very effective way of visually and audibly showcasing the possibilities of this concept. Having an audience take part in a live streaming event is not a new phenomenon, with events such as ‘Twitch Plays Pokemon’ still being a fantastic example of what can be achieved through online streaming sites, but our concept offers a more intimate approach, and focuses on what each individual viewer can bring to the production, instead of treating the audience as a mass group.

Through doing this test, we learned that platforms would need to undergo a transformation to support our concept. The idea of live interactivity through streaming is not something that is being done on the scale we are aiming for, and would most likely have to be implemented into a social video game to be effective. Our idea is perhaps better suited to a dedicated game than a phone app, purely because the response time between an app and a stream would not be ideal. Platforms are not at the point of supporting live audience integration yet. However, our test does demonstrate how effective streaming platforms hypothetically could be if they were to support this kind of entertainment. If a site like Twitch were to integrate some kind of creation features into their app, streamers could tailer an experience specifically for their content, and give their audience a more meaningful way of connecting to the content they love.

Our project expands upon what I learned in my development posts in that it offers an alternative to linear content. As we learned in week 3, some concepts do not function effectively in a traditional linear format, and in order to be impactful must give the audience some element of choice and control. For a piece to be truly interactive, it cannot have a traditional narrative path driving the viewer, as it eliminates a true sense of choice. In our planning, we considered creating a narrative story and giving the audience the option to pick between multiple branching narrative paths. This however took away too much of a sense of control from the audience, and did not build upon our previous test in a meaningful way. By using music to demonstrate live interactivity, we were not limited by a narrative or restricted by set paths. There are limitless options with music, and it proved to be the most effective way for us to find a balance between giving the creator control and the audience freedom.

We still have many questions in regards to the technical side of things. For our concept to become a mainstream thing would require average internet speeds to significantly increase, and would greatly increase the strain put on streaming services if they were to host and relay all the data back and forth between the streamer and the audience in real time. It’s an ambitious concept that in theory works perfectly, but we don’t have the means to make it a fully functional project yet. For me personally I think this raises questions regarding how online platforms are going to adapt to features like this if they ever become a reality. Right now, online facilities do not exist to support projects like this, at least not every aspect at once. I believe that if audience interaction becomes a more integral part of online media, we will see many major sites such as Youtube, Twitch and Facebook adapting and implementing advancements on their sites to allow for these possibilities.