It's all about the Users...Paula Crutchlow

Hmm, all the way through this project I personally thought that Paula, coming from a background of live performative theatre would have trouble appreciating the concept of the piece. Her comments during tutorials and lectures seemed to put us at odds over stylistic choices and unfortunately this attitude continued into her own experience. Or that's initially what I thought...

From the off Paula did not use the headphones (even after being specifically asked to). She only used them once the soundscape was loud enough to bleed into the studio from the headphones' position on the table. This automatically took her out of the experience in that her interaction was different from everybody else in the audience.

She also spent most of the time writing notes on the experience in her notebook. Despite being a lecturer and having to assign marks, I felt that there was no chance of her having a true understanding of the immersive environment we were attempting to create if she wasn't willing to fully interface with it.

However, once out of the studio (she didn't reach the finale) we began to hear from other students she had been talking to that the experience had allegedly "freaked her out" and she thought it was "terrifying". This was interesting because I had had a similar reaction to it when testing it at 5 in the morning!

It seems that the experience actually had a dramatic effect on Paula despite the unorthodox method of her interaction with it.

This can also be seen in the answers to some of her questions; although initially her reluctance can be clearly seen

Snivitz: “How do you feel?”
Paula: “Like I should be somewhere else.”

eventually she responded positively, even telling this 'person' what appears to be some very personal details

Snivitz: “What was the last dream you remember?”
Paula: “I was with my ex walking along the beach.” (paraphrased)

I believe that Paula actually showed a very profound interaction with the application, of course her interpretation of that is as yet unknown...