I have worked with video, live streaming and projection in performance, group work and education for over 30 years now - hard ot believe how time passes sometimes.
My first experiments were in using interactive video in medical education using laser disks attached to student note taking systems I developed in Hypercard at the Multimedia Authoring Centre. At this time (1990) digital video was not adequate, but we experimented with both in the participatory education context we were pioneering at the time.
Later with the Virtual Theatre Company (1993), we too this experience and applied it to theatre and performance art. Again the focus was on participatory experience, with the interaction either between the performer and the media, or the adience and the media. We settled on a model in which the performer guides the audience through narrative landscapes.
We used a variety of video conferencing techniques in the Viral Academy, where the focus was on connecting remote learners, and during the pandemic, we applied these lessons to how we might connect people through theatre using Zoom.
Yesterday, I had an interesting experience holding a discussion in pure chat, with some elements of shared media - but the focus was on text based discussion - as we did in the a long time ago. The silences between voice was something I had missed.
Today reflecting on these experiences, I feel that we may find a new place for video in Hitchhikers - possibly. So I'm taking some time over coffee to collect these thoughts.