What is Immersive Theatre?

We can start by what we claim at Living Lucid Creative:

“Immersive theatre includes many different things.  From solving a murder and determining the ending of a show to one on one intimate experiences, the only thing you can expect is to expect the unexpected. In most of our everyday entertainment we are merely spectators.  With these experiences we tear down the wall between actors and the audience.  Here, you make the choices - you control the story and the experience.  Every experience is unique - like those old Choose Your Own Adventure books that we had as kids. Here too, now as adults you can book another experience to explore another path!

 

Stories range from phone calls where our actors do live improv within a chosen scenario with you guiding the cues to text/phone call/email rescue missions and escape rooms to live streaming events with groups guiding the story, to full scale environments that you can walk into and explore.  This new world of events creates alternative realities where you are a vital part of the experience - without you it just doesn’t work.  Our productions will ensnare your senses and capture your imagination.

 

Come join us, leave your expectations behind, allow us to introduce you to new realities and experiences and live lucidly.”

 

Immersion is a continuum.  On a typical stage show you are not really involved in the action, yet we ask you to allow yourself to believe in the world in the play.  If you see a stagehand onstage move something it is assumed that since they are in black they “disappear”.  And some plays break the 4^th wall and do engage you as the audience.  They may speak directly to you.  Or perhaps even drag you up onto stage.  But generally speaking it’s rather passive.

There are many types of role playing that are immersive and have been around for years.  From Dungeons and Dragons to Pirate Festivals and Renaissance Fairs.  These experiences vary in immersive levels – some get really into it, even dressing the parts, others enjoy more as spectators.  And beyond D&D, there are many more immersive styled games out there now than there ever were before.  They even have a name – COS play.  I think the next type of things I recall doing was attending a new murder mysteries where over snacks or a meal you would interact with the other audience members and the cast to discover who a murderer was.  And, you could even buy kits that allowed you to have your own murder mystery dinner parties (these still exist, and even have virtual download options – you can even do the virtually).  One can make a good deal of arguments about what really is an immersive experience verses what is a immersive theatrical experience.  Does it need to have a story line?  Or does it need to have live actors?  I found, in my search for connection many different types of things, different types of technology, some revolutionary companies, and in some ways a whole new world of opportunities.  While my experiences are not exhaustive, I will try to highlight some of what I have experienced so that later, we can eventually come back to what is immersive theatre, or at least what Living Lucid Creative is working towards.

One of the first moments which grabbed me was actually a Netflix Interactive Special called Black Mirror Bandersnatch.  It is essentially a choose your own adventure book, except you make you choices with your remote.  I was mesmerized.  I spend hours watching it, choosing different paths, googling paths – and even following one rare ending path that necessitated me making over 50 different decisions to get to that one ending – and if my choices were different at any point – I would not get to that alternative ending!  The choices were so seamless – the movie did not pause, it was very well crafted.  Netflix has others and some were entertaining, but not, in my opinion matched this one. 

One “event” that I did was called Textback.  It was entirely as you can assume via texts.  The premise was a guy had been kidnapped and I had to help save him.  To save him I have to do a little research, solve some puzzles, and make a few emails.  The story took place over about 2-3 days, but it differs for different people. It was in a way like an escape room except there was interaction.  The interaction was driving by the game though – I would have to wait for the next stage to begin, though I could wait to engage till I had time or pause it.   What is interesting is that the person texting you doesn’t exist.  Sorry for the spoiler – but it is a bot.   Once written, this thing can run forever as long as you pay for the server or whatever it runs off of.  There is nothing in theatre that even remotely exists as somewhat passive income – we work hard for every ticket.  I was engaged – and a bit sad when it was over. 

I have watched a large variety of virtual tours.  In the beginning when COVID first shut down everything everyone had a virtual tour.  I couldn’t keep track of them all.  And I found that I was often disappointed – that Frank Lloyd Wright house tour that I had never seen – was really only a 3 minute into to the house.  Too much work to find what was good.   I also very much did not like the 360 tours where you can move yourself incrementally through a location.  Perhaps it was that I did most of these with museums and you really could not look at the art or learn about the art – and the tours would have been better for either architecture or nature.  They also had no audio content (the ones I did), and they were just not very engaging.  A shame as though I suspect a lot of moment was spent on some of these.   Some were on zoom.  Some of these were okay – as long as the visual content of the tour was predominate.  Some companies managed this better than others.  Others were on Facebook Live or YouTube Live.  Generally the best ones give you good visuals and were knowledgeable about the content.  Not exactly theatre – more like attending a seminar.  But some were immersive in that they would ask trivia questions or otherwise try to engage the audience.  Unfortunately – these tours were often more immersive than some of the theatre I have seen on the same platforms. 

I have done a few shows on Discord – the events have themed themselves as immersive theatre, but are all based on role playing, where it is essential for you as an audience member to participate.  Never the same twice – very immersive.  Best when everyone can really engage with the story.  Not as easy for wall flowers to navigate. 

I have also tried a few escape rooms.  One on YouTube live had an actor moving the story along, there were filmed video segments, you needed to look virtually for clues and even send out an email, and we solved the puzzle with seconds on the clock.  It was very engaging, immersion was done through a chat box, and it had a story line…  I had not really previously considered escape rooms as part of a theatrical experience, but this has changed my perspective.  I also would not have said a haunted house was theatrical – but if it has a story line and actors, you are immersed in the event – it probably qualifies.  There was a couple of other immersive games, one on zoom and one with a created internet interface that just did not connect to me personally.  One seemed to easy (yet hard to understand) the other was way long and way to complex (it was about Sherlock Holmes). 

I have seen some on Instagram, one on twitter – one on a fake pizza website.   Intriguing.  Some take you one and adventure – some don’t.  It’s a bit like the Wild West – you don’t know what to expect. 

The other type that I have experienced were audio events.  You downloaded and listed to a track (play, story) while doing something.  These were intriguing ideas to me.  Immersive in a different way.

And I am sad to say but as of yet I have not seen a performance yet where I would say the format was as close to theatre as virtually possible that was good.  There was either no real interaction (you could chat but it didn’t effect the show) and one your input did alter the show but the show was not easy to understand – and it left me with a feeling that I just lost 2 hours of my life). 

By the way, I am open to experiencing as much as I can – so if you know of something let me know.  Somethings that I have come across are closed productions, and it is not always very easy to track down productions (and of course I have to be budget conscious). 

So this is the stew of thoughts and emotions and types of things that I was engaging in while searching for connection and something more.

In some cases those hosting virtual tours when right back to in person tours when their state opened up.  I felt that was perhaps short sighted as I would have still paid to see it virtually as often they were not places where I would have been conceivably able to go.  Not to mention that just because things are open – doesn’t mean all people feel comfortable going out – and some populations aren’t able to get out – virtual immersive content reaches audiences that live events can’t.

Also, it depending on what technology you were using these events could exist for as long as there is a potential audience for them.  Obviously there could be royalties or rights issues – but the Textback cell experience or the Lifeline App take virtually no support.  The recorded audio files are similar.  However, the immersive quality of these are different.  There is not a live actor.  You can change the story in some cases – in others you can’t. 

I was also surprised when some of the shows that were one on one phone experiences with actors closed.  Perhaps they were not doing well financially?  But there are many actors out there out of work. 

Immersive theatre means many things.  I have not even gone into some of the large scale live immersive events, which we will look to do in the future as well.  There are many different platforms to use.  There are many different levels of immersion.  And I think each person will find that certain levels of immersion feel right to them and that certain platforms are more comfortable and easier for them to navigate.  And Living Lucid Creative is here to help navigate these new worlds of options and ideas and bring you fresh, innovative and engaging content. 

Striplox Hardware

Striplox has and interesting product out that is fairly similar to the Z-Clip product that we use alot of around our shop.  It slides horizontally (or vertically), allows the connectors to be very flatly nestled together, though this is true if you inset Z-Clip as well.  It is a little different in that there is an option that makes it lock into place, so that it will not be removable once installed.

The website shows additional uses, including being able to put it into the end grain of a piece of wood, and to use it for corners.  It is definitely something that I could see being used in the shop.

Roll Drops

The other day I was thinking about roll drops - in particular a job I bid a couple years ago that used roller shades back to back for a TV studio.  The material on the shades was a print on blackout material - but they also used them for light boxes, obviously with a different material for the print.
They were using these rollers from Denny mfg.  They carry 12' long drops, and are pretty economical.

While looking for the information on Denny Manufacturing I also ran across a few other companies that produce equipment that could be used in situations like these.

polarshade.com
 Titan Patio Drop Shade can do 20' wide by 18' tall
qmotionshades.com
mariak.com
draperinc.com
rollertrol.com

Project Place PM Software and Training

Project Place offers a range of services from webinars, a blog, to PM software.  They offer quite a bit of services and is free for small projects - but also have enterprise opportunities.
I have been looking for an opportunity to use it for a small scale project and try it out. Implementing technology to a project team is always an interesting and challenging circumstance.  You need folks to buy in and use the software.  You can only test out a piece of collaboration software by yourself to a certain extent.  But all software packages have good points and bad, some may be able to work out - sometimes you may need to test other solutions - but care needs to be taken as multiple changes in technology can be even more difficult to manage.

At any rate, I like the information this company provides, I think that helps adoption, and knowing if it is a good fit for your environment in the first place.  Further, even without adoption there is a wealth of knowledge that is useful in terms of PM techniques that are worth exploring.

Off the shelf Turntables

Everynow and then you need a turntable - not for a car or for a major, but for something small and low tech - like to make an a small object spin.  While creating a small turntable isn't difficult, you don't always need to recreate the wheel either.  (My apologies, the bad pun was entirely intended!)

A few I have come across during my last look:
Vue-More has a variety of small turntables and sign rotators.
Dino Rentos Studios has a variety of display turntables as well.
Turntable 360 has, you guessed, it - turntables. Small, for displays.
Young Electro-Mechanical Company has "motiondiser" turntables, they are small but have a high loading capacity.

Of these I have used both the Vue-More and the the "motiondiser".  The vue more was not very functional, but it was undersized for the application (provided by the artist for a sculpture.  The motionsiser is a fairly small little robust piece that will probably work as long as you can plug in a standard plug.  The unit has to be at least 10 years old - maybe 15, and spins happily away.

Bending PVC

I came across pvcbendit while looking at PVC stuff for home projects.  We frequently either bend steel, or have it bent for us to make a design work.  Sometimes it structural.  Sometimes it must be welded, and PVC fittings might not work -but being easily able to consistently bend PVC, especially at a low economic cost, could be a useful theatrical tool for scenery fabrication.

RGB Light Matching

On a project last year we installed RGB lighting within a visitor experience center.  The client wanted the lighting to reflect the colors in their logo.  It actually turned out to be a fairly simple things to do.  We used this site: pantone-to-rgb  and used the numerical number supplied to create the color.  The colors were a close (enough) match!

Technology Training Free Resources

I came across IDC Technologies September 2014's newsletter technical download page, and thought that it is good information to keep as well as to pass on. The page offers a number of links ranging from project management to mechanical Design Concepts for Non-Mechanical Engineers to a train the trainer document.  They also have webinars available, that would be worth looking into.

Electro-magnetic Boards

I recently received an email about a product called Justick.  Its basically a bulletin board without pins, tapes, etc - where notes just stick, without any additional aid.  This works via an electromagnetic field, generated by AA batteries.

While this probably is not robust enough to hold up in some environments, I could see uses.  If you could control the power remotely, things could easily fall onstage.  But I could see it more in use backstage, or for use in meetings where you may not have a post it note, but need to make a note.

Lab Theatre

Traditionally, when talking about a lab theatre, one might think about a black box space. Now however, we can test some technical ideas out in a model theatre, allowing experimentation before time is limited during tech week.
Yeagerlabs includes scaled softgoods and lighting packages.
Lightbox also has a scaled model of a theatre. I have seen this in use at USITT, but have also seen it in development at Syracuse University. This website seems to be out of date, so I am not sure if they are still in existence or not.
Both of these instruments seem to be primarily effective for lighting experimentation – still leaving room for future development for scenic automation experimentation.

Project Resource for Teaching Tools

I was browsing the internet looking for ideas for a project for my nephews to make over the summer when they visit. Complicated enough that a 13 year old would be interested, simple enough that I could help the younger kids in the neighborhood through it as well. I started off thinking about either a pine car derby or CO2 cars. Then I found Kelvin Educational. This sight has good prices on pieces if I do decide on cars,, but they have a lot of other cool things too, many geared towards classroom use. Bridges, cranes, catapults, hydraulics, robots, they have a bit of it all. Certainly a resource to use when thinking about how to teach concepts of engineering within the classroom.

Free Online Photo Editor - Pic Monkey

While browsing some sites related to things to do with my daughter I came across this photo site. While it is obviously geared more to casual users (those that don't need photo shop, it is somewhat amazing how the development of smart phones has lead to a subsequent explosion of low cost or free services, one genre of which is photo editing. Leave a comment & let me know what your favorite is.

Getting Organized in the Google Age

I have been reading “Getting Organized in the Google Age by Douglas Merrill and James Martin. I picked it up because it seemed like the tools for staying informed and organized today is different from what it used to be, and Google is certainly one of the reasons or indicators of that change.
The start of the book talks about how our brains work, what are real constraints are and how to work with those, and the importance of goals. I enjoyed this section because I do think that we often try to uphold systems or an idea of what we should be capable of doing that just doesn't match with how our brains work. Primarily that we can only hold small bits of information in our short term memory, and that information can be challenging to remember. The section on constraints is interesting because he asks you to really consider if the constraints you identify are legitimate and real or imposed. These are important because these will help you chose methods that will work for you, working around your limitations. I think the section of goals is intriguing because I don’t think that organization is often thought of from the perspective of having a goal. The goal is the organization itself. Yet, the purpose of organizing information is so that it can be retrieved later.
This blog for example, exists to share information with others about tools, techniques, and ideas. But I also use it to store thoughts I have, which I think will be of later use, with the assumption that it may help others. And when I am looking for a prop or material that I have encountered here I often search here first. Obviously sometimes a Google search is all you need to do, but often times I want to remember more particulars about an item, or the differences between websites. The down side to this blog is that as it is about 6 years old, some of the links don’t work, and terms that I think of to search under are not what I originally indicated in the title or text, and the keywords have many entries within each one. For example, the other day I needed a 5” radius wood column. I finally found what I was looking for in my blog, but I had called it a cylinder. Had I recognized search difficulties in the beginning, I might have included additional tags in each blog that would later help me find that entry. The last drawback of this blog versus a private forum that does the same is that a private depository of info would not need to have fully formed (or written) ideas. I do posts with links and minimal texts, but there are often ideas I think about while commuting that would really be good to post, but thinking while driving and finding time to write out those thoughts don’t always go together.
The point being that understanding the goals might lead you to a different process – and I think it is a question that we often don’t think about before forging forward with a system.
The book talks a lot about specific technologies and how to use those technologies. Something that is probably out of date now that it is a few years old. However, the basic ideas that he puts for is using “search” to find things, using the cloud for storage, ways to store information in email, and sharing information. He also talks about filtering, getting things out of your head, and contexts.
I will start with filtering, because the author proposed a high level of filtering out information. Since the brain can’t focus on too much at once, the more that you filter out, and don’t really think about in the first place, the less your brain has to work. To do this effectively you need to know what is important and what isn't. We all do this naturally when driving, as an example. If your goals are off, you may inadvertently filter out the wrong information. While I agree with this concept, my concern is that just because you may not want the irrelevant information now, it could be useful later.
This book would propose that you stop using file folders, sorting your email, and so forth and dump everything into a central place and search for the info that you need. Yet he talks a lot about sharing information, which I feel is somewhat incompatible. Where I work we have a very defined system of organizing project related information that allows anyone to go into any job and find particular information. It doesn't matter what the job is, or if it is titled something odd, it should be easy to find. Conversely, on a job where there are literally a 1000 emails, using search to find what you need is helpful.
Using email was also talked about quite extensively as a way to basically keep a private archive that is personal and searchable. Obviously, he talked about Google and tools within Gmail to do this, but most web based email with large amounts of free storage would work. If I wasn't interested in sharing the information I blog about – I could write it up and email it to myself, with key words and categories. I would have a searchable index of technical theatre information. He proposes emailing himself copies of documents, perhaps indicating where the printed version is filed. He can then copy anyone that might also need that particular document. He uses emails as a to do, but he codes them differently. Once the emails are all coded, he can use filters to only see things that he wants to see. I see ways that this works, but doesn't seem any less time consuming than other methods.
Perhaps the benefit of this is “free” cloud storage, though he talks about using drop box and other cloud storage programs that can keep your information readily available on a range of devices. In addition many of these services allow collaboration and document sharing. A good way to share information, but a whole different beast in terms or organization and making sure that people have the information that need to have and understand that info.
Sharing information is obviously very important. Obviously having information on a shared drive makes that easier. On the other hand it is hard to know when new or updated information appears on the drive. In my drop box, a little message pops up, but I only see it if I am sitting at the computer. When dealing with lots of info, it’s unrealistic to get a notification for every change. Yet when info is publicly available some people will assume that you know about the changes because they are available, but this is also unrealistic without some sort of notification.
Getting things out of your head is definitely something that interested me about the book. Not sure that I learned much here. Paper is fast, but how do you find that info later? It’s also unorganized. Redoing notes is time consuming. And perhaps I could use a voice to text app to let me record thoughts on the run. Digital technology is great, as is search, but many of the PDFs of research that I have do not have readable text within the pdf – so it’s all about either folder organization or documents title.
Contexts were particularly interesting to me. We all shift contexts regularly. It did bug me that he actually shifted contexts within the book frequently – particularly with song quotes. But it did emphasize that when you shift contexts you forget parts of the first context to think about the new context.
Ultimately I think he is a little too specific about technology in terms of products instead of product categories, but there is obviously a lot of food for thought within the book.

Misc tips:
Calling yourself to leave notes (like while driving), particularly if you subscribe to a service that transcribes these notes and sends it to your email.
Paper vs computer – sometimes it is easier / faster to get things on paper. He has ideas on when each is better, but I think there are personal choices involved. There are also pluses and minus of each. Obviously what is on paper can be scanned (word recognition preferred) and stored.
Within his reading / scanning, he proposes to read and mark. Star whatever stands out, and keep moving forward. Then come back to what is starred and read it – then sort it into whatever applicable categories that had previously been determined. (Perhaps, a color for something you don’t understand, one for quoting, etc.)
Lastly, I have thought a lot recently that in a 1000 or so years people will look back on today as a dark age. Why? Because they will be unable to read what we write, or see what we do. As people write real letters, publish paper books, and print less photos, there is less of a “permanent” record of what we do. I don’t have the software to open files from my undergraduate work in the early 90’s, I’m sure that will only get much, much worse. Obviously this last bit is just food for thought, but it does make me wonder.

Round Lightboxes

I found a new sources for light boxes today: DSA. Some of them are fairly affordable (less than $300), though others can run over a grand or more. There are a surprising number of items that go into making a light box with a nice even glow, particularly if it is thin. Obviously there are more high tech boxes available (edge lit boxes where the plexi is engraved with different depths of routing for even illumination for example), but these are often unnecessary for the bulk of the work we get into.

Tools

I was looking up profile gauges and came across Dieter Schmid. Granted, i'm not likely to order from this company anytime in the near future, but I thought some of their precision marking tools were cool, and they had a couple products that are new to me, and would likely be available a bit more locally.

Tech Shop

Tech Shop is a workshop (only available in 7 locations) that allows a large group of people access to a variety of tools. They have cnc machines, milling machines, lathes, even laser cutters, and 3-d printers. The idea is that you buy a membership for access, and you can use these tools (and elarn how to use them) as a low cost alternative to purchasing fabrication services for prototypes. I think this is a really great idea - many people don't have access to shops - so from building something simple for themselves or developing new ideas is very difficult. Even with a pretty decent home shop, the average person is fairly limited with teh equipment they can own. And theatres fall into this as well - maybe we have access to a cnc router, but what about printing, 3-d printing, laser cutting, water jet cutting and so forth - each of these machines are large purchases and need a good deal of maintenance. While I know that a theatre couldn't take over the whole facility - I could see a special project goingthrough this service. I really think that this type of technology access and collaboration is something that is needed for the future.

Accounting Software & Cloud Storage

Browsing the other night I saw a couple of site that could be of interest.
Wave accounting is a free online accounting tool for small businesses. It seemed like it would be a good option for freelance work. It also integrates personal accounting into the features – something that would be even more helpful for freelance work. I do very little freelancing & use Mint for personal finance – but this tool would be something I would look for if I needed to do more invoicing or tracking for business reasons.

Also, I think I have mentioned that I have been using drop box and like it for sharing files between devices and with other people. Sugar Sync also offers that service and has a 5 free GB account (Drop box starts lower but allows you to earn more space). And of course there are a few others too: Google Drive, iCloud (though really just for apple devices) Box, Carbonite and Mozy, and Miscrosoft’s Skydrive.

File Transfering Services

Last week, under the gun to get out of the office, I was faced with an issue that routinely comes up at my office; how to send someone a large file. This seems like a fairly simple issue, yet is an ongoing problem. My work email is limited to 10MB (basically nothing in today’s data world). Online accounts may go up to 20 MG if you use your personal mail, but my file was about half a gig. We have an FTP site, which doesn’t well, and I have dealt with other companies trying to send info that also have unreliable ftp sites. In a world where we stream video, where music sharing is so easy it is illegal, while is sending a work file so complicated? So while the work crunch has ended, I thought it may be time to look up a few options to have on hand next time something comes up. www.box.com free trial, large sizes. Personal use is 5 gigs free, you can keep docs online. Has solutions for business and enterprise, but I didn’t see prices listed. www.yousendit.com was the place I was about to go when I found a solution elsewhere. Seems like you can send 50MB for free and you have 2 GB of storage. They also have pro, proplus, workstream and a pay as you go option. www.sendyourfiles.com has a variety of sized plans available starting at 5 GB sent per month, with 25GB storage with 1 user. It starts at about 10 bucks per month. www.sendthisfile has a free option for 2GB transfers, but does not include storage. It has 5 additional plans, going up to $600 a month for unlimited users, unlimited file sizes, business customization and many more options. www.sendpace.com has a free plan with 300 MD file sizes, and includes ads. They have two other options, but neither alow business customization the way that some of the above does. I have also been using Dropbox - it has been nice to be able to easily transfer files from one device to another without using a thumb drive - and the files also go to my phone and IPod. It has an option to share a folder / file as well. It starts with 2 gigs free, but you can gain memory space in a variety of ways or purchase a plan with more storage. Obviously this is a partial list – but one that would make my next file much easier to send. The bigger issue really is that in the age of technology, file sharing is a pretty typical work function & one that should be addressed, easily, by the technology employed within your job. I don’t work in a company that has a tight IT policy, but there are many business that do, and sidestepping their IT policy to use an outside service might not go over very well.

Collaborative Technology Links

I am wrapping up the course I am taking in collaboration technologies and have gathered some more links to share. The course was interesting. Less about specific technologies that I expected, but much broader than I expected. I do wish that we would ahve used more of the different types of software available, yet understand that as technology changes so quickly that in the long run, that may be a limited view. I was surprised by some of the topics in teh class - for instance the last week included generational differences in technolgy use. So to the links: Hippo Center has a PM blog that has some interesting posts. I stumbled upon it looking for software evaluation criteria, but read other posts on the site as well. This is a Wiki comparison of project management software. There is really alot out there so determining what your needs are and narrowing down your options to just a couple that can be tested is an inportant step to choosing technology. Once you move out of the realm of email and Google Docs, you start being out of the comfort range of some - and into a wide range of options that can be tricky to navagate. While this wikiisn't comprehnsive, it is a good palce to start. Bright Hub is a bit random - the blog covers a huge amount of different types of articles. However it does cover project management topics and a variety of other topics that kept me occupied for a while.

Virtual Team Links

This quarter I have been taking a class on using technology for leading teams. While in theatre most of the team tends to be in the same location - there is always a part of the team, the designer, or director prior to the rehearsal period that is not usually local. Thus the blending between an in house team and a virtual "show" team is an interesting topic to me. It has been interesting so far, and I am sure it will be the fodder for a series of blog posts. However, since there is a lot of information that I am locating out there on the internet, I thought I might do a list of links for further reading for now. Work 3.0 is the class blog. Since participation is a requirement it is fairly active. Leading Virtually has alot of information. The particular link I noted was about virtual worlds and building commitment. I never really got into second life - mostly because I thought I might like it too much. It seems like from what I have been reading that it isn't "as cool" as it used to be, but it does seem like an interesting concept. Regardless, many of the points they discuss are easily transferable to other virtual communication and teamwork. Ganthead.com is more of a project management resource, but does have some information on the subject. The specific blog linked to is actually about the Mann Gulch Incident, something not exactly related to virtual teams, but roles within a team & something that merits further exploration in its own right. Collaborative Strategies is a commercial site, but they do have some interesting information out there & a blog list of their own. Of course there are also lists of collaboration tools and technologies - from Basecamp to Podio to Google docs and much more out there as well. Its a large topic with a lot of different points of view. From an IT standpoint, or an outsource view point, this type of collaboration has been happening for year. For other, even though we may be meeting by phone and trading email for years, we aren't really using all of the technological options out there very effectively. Finally when you start looking at how all of this affects the team, group dynamics, trust and leadership, there is much more information out there.