At the Participatory Live Experiences Lab, we investigate human experience at the intersection of emerging forms of live media. By “live” we mean media that affords sharing and participating in social experiences through the real-time transmission of human expression. Live media encompasses but is not limited to real-time video / audio, text chat, collaborative tools, shared virtual environments, multiplayer video games, remotely controlled devices (i.e. robots and drones), and any other modality that affords people taking part in shared human experiences.
Participation is a critical part of the human experience. Our ability to take part in shared efforts and experiences with others is foundational to critical aspects of society such as work, play, politics, education, and religion. Enabling participation is essential to forming and sustaining communities and can empower underrepresented peoples. A core goal of the PLEX Lab is to enable participation by designing and synthesizing new forms of live media.