Virtual Puppeteers is a networked digital puppet theatre. It allows children in different locations to design their own 3D puppets and collaborate in an online stage-space to create their own plays.
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Project article

Partners

Squidsoup
Futurelab

Technology

Macromedia Director
PC
Voice-over Internet Protocal (VoIP)

Outline

Virtual Puppeteers offers children an 'open' environment in which to work individually and collectively, encouraging playful experimentation through see-and-do techniques and the shared construction of stories.

Borrowing elements from traditional craft practices such as clay modelling and puppetry, the software comprises four core activities: puppet workshop; stage workshop; online live stage and viewing area.

Puppet workshop:
The puppet workshop is where children make their 3D puppets. It provides children with a basic puppet template made up of virtual balls of clay, which they can tweak, compress, drag, move, manipulate and colour using their 'virtual toolbox' to create weird and wonderful creatures. Children are also able to rotate the puppets to see what effects actions on one side of the creature have when looked at from other perspectives.

Stage workshop:
In the stage workshop children make the stages for their puppet plays. From a basic template of four walls, children can move and paint the walls to create imaginative underwater worlds, cityscapes and alien terrains.

Online live stage:
The live stage area is where children connect via a local network and collaborate with a remote user and make their puppet plays. Using Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology with a specially designed plug-in, children are able to 'give voice' to their puppets by speaking and recording their voices and puppet actions in real-time over the network.

Viewing area:
The viewing area allows children to play back their puppet plays and listen to the stories they create.

Learning research questions

Futurelab's key aims in supporting the development of this prototype were to examine:

1. The types of collaborative and creative processes supported by open-ended 3D creative environments.
2. The potential for this type of tool to support children's story-telling, visual and verbal literacies.
3. The potential for this tool to be used within school contexts.

Research and development process

During the 19-month prototype development period, Futurelab and the developers of Virtual Puppeteers, Squidsoup, worked closely with Year 5 and 6 10-12 year-old children at Luckwell Primary School in Bristol. The early conceptual stage of development was supported by a workshop bringing together eight Year 5 children, a storyboard artist, Futurelab and Squidsoup in order to explore how children might want to use a source such as this. Following the early development phases, Futurelab conducted a week-long trial at Luckwell in which children were introduced to Virtual Puppeteers, observed using the tool and interviewed about their views. This first phase of testing fed back into the design process, and improvements were made resulting in a more interactive stage area and user interface.

Futurelab was also keen to explore how teachers, as well as the children, would use the resource. A second stage of evaluation allowed us to examine how the software would be used within a naturalistic school setting. Working closely with a class of Year 5 children and their teachers, Virtual Puppeteers was embedded within the school curriculum for a period of two and a half months. During this period the children used Virtual Puppeteers alongside other multimedia tools to work on an earth and science project about creatures and their habits. Within the project the Virtual Puppeteers puppet and stage workshops respectively allowed the children to create their creatures and an example habitat. Alongside the products of other media tools they showcased their work at the end of the term, demonstrating how a creature's habitat influences how they live. Voxbox recordings, interviews and diaries kept by both the teacher and the children over the project period were used to examine how Virtual Puppeteers could be applied within an authentic school setting, and what kinds of teacher support would be needed. Further suggestions were also made by the teachers and children about how we could improve the user experience. Their recommendations were taken on board and implemented within a third stage of development.

The third phase of development also involved integrating VoIP technology into the software. This allowed the children to speak across a local network in realtime, without the aid of an external mixing desk and mics (this set-up was used to test the 'online' stage area in the previous stages). Working with a specialist programmer, Squidsoup embedded the VoIP technology in the live stage area only. Trials with 22 Year 5 and 6 children suggested that further work is needed to improve this aspect of the experience in order to facilitate online collaboration.

Next steps

Squidsoup is currently building on recommendations from the final trials, and Futurelab is actively supporting the designers in securing funding and partners to take Virtual Puppeteers into full realisation as an online, international, collaborative, and real-time story-telling and social engagement environment.

For examples of Luckwell Primary School's creations using Virtual Puppeteers go to:

www.electricdecember.org/03/calendar/calendar.php?dateSwitch=21

Also read Electric December article.

This idea was submitted to Futurelab's Call for Ideas programme by Squidsoup.

Contacts

Futurelab: John Bradford
Squidsoup: Anthony Rowe, www.squidsoup.com

Website

www.virtualpuppeteers.com


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September 2006