Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Crowdshaping: a genius tool for the event industry


The new phenomenon of crowdshaping could completely transform the way events happened, and even transform our world and the way we live. The crowshaping is the use of technologies to collect data about individuals and the way they act, their movements, their emotions, physiological metrics etc. To better understand this phenomenon, we can take the example of the 2014’s SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. This event was a hybrid event, with half part that was an electronic dance party, and the other half was an experiment. When attendees arrived at the event, a bracelet was given to them. The only rule of the event is that they should keep the bracelet during all the event. This bracelet could measure key physiological metrics as for example, movements, heart rate, galvanic skin responses etc. With the help of this bracelet, the event organizers could collect data and manage in real time the event according to it, to enhance the experience deliver to the attendees. “This is really about increasing audience joy and emotional engagement”. For example if they have information that people are very hot, they could distribute drinks.
We can consider the crowdshaping as the child of the crowdsourcing. In fact the crowdsourcing has some limits because it needs the volunteer participation of people, and their opinions are not always the trust reflect. The crowdshaping, use a technology that doesn’t ask for any involvement from the attendees just to be present, hence the number of data collected are much more important and reliable. So this phenomenon could really be a new emerging trend.
 
The crowdshaping has also been used for current life interest. In fact the current work about the traffic in Berlin used this technology with data of location collected thanks to the smartphones. It deliver information about the intensity of the traffic depending on the day, the time of the day, the period of the year etc. This data would enable to reshape the bus system and to make the road less crowded, hence enhance the life well-being of Berlin inhabitants. It could also been used in fast-foods for example to analyze the face of people eating to discern their emotions with the “Emotient” technology that analyze faces (market research 3.0). Also it could be used in plane with equipped seat for example to adapt the temperature, the light etc.
This technology could have major evolution and could be use broadly, but we can ask about the privacy of life issue. In fact it could be a very intrusive way to collect data, as the location information thanks to individuals’ smartphones. But it seems that people are more and more accustomed to share their data with the world.
According to us, this new phenomenon could really enhance the experience of attendees during the event, as it enable the event organizers to have information in real time about people preferences, interests, attitudes, emotions etc. They could adapt and manage the event directly and depending on the attendees profile for several days-events for example. And what make the success of an event is the level of satisfaction of attendees and if their expectations are fulfill or not.
Furthermore, it is a much more reliable tool than questionnaires for example that are often not a good representation of the trust. People often don’t give their real feelings to be nice, or because they don’t want to take the time. With crowdshaping people just act normally, they are not “forced” to gives their impressions and feelings. But we can ask if people are aware that they are “evaluated” in real time, would they continue to act as normally? It is a point that we have to discover with the development of this trend.
Concerning the privacy of life, in fact it could be intrusive and, if the technology aim is only to use anonymous data useful for the enhancement of the event experience, it could lead to many derives. In fact they could be victim of hacking for example, or even the technology leaders could have bad intentions, or be in relation with the police services. When it is only the use of a bracelet like for the SXSW Festival, there is no risk; But when the technology use smartphones’ data, it is not completely safe. But as we live in a high technology world were we share more and more information, people are more and more familial with this kind of technologies.
To conclude, crowdshaping could really become the future of the event industry as people want more and more experience and customize events. But as people always want more and the evolution of information technologies is exponential, we could ask what would be the next stage? A chip in our brand? Only the future will answer this question.
Marine Pelletier & Marion Mortier
 
 
Source:

No comments:

Post a Comment