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T-KTV - A Phatic Communication Machine KTV is very popular in Asia for entertainment and social events. Karaoke is the major installation inside the tiny partition. Drink and food are served. Dimming lights makes people feel more relaxed and comfortable. Lyrics lead the guests singing and dancing along with music video in stereo. People might know or might not know each other very well. Through certain connection though, they come together and try to enjoying themselves.
However, the current KTV system un-attentively divides people into two groups: singer and audience. when singer playing major role, there might be audiences acting indifferently. For instance, sometimes when one is singing, the other pople might keep silent to show politeness. Even more, the singer might be too concentrated and immersive onto the screen and the lyrics, therefore he/she would ignore the instant feedbacks from the environments. Ignoring lights, space, people's voices, gestures, movements, the worst case is that the person is somehow isolated from communication. Many similar situations could keep people away from interacting with others. While dancing, on the other hand, it makes people feel relaxing, more connected in the collective behaviors [2]. What could actually bring singers and audiences together? If singers and audiences in KTV could both have contributions to the environments, what a scene it would be? By expressing themselves with their own figures and body movements, phatic communication happens here. For this reason, we design the interactive KTV system from traditional karaoke context, called Tai-Ker KTV (a.k.a T-KTV in the following paragraphs), which employs "head-shaking dance" to enrich the environments and support group interaction. The purpose is not to replace the current singing routine in KTV. But it is trying to create an interactive way to enhance the atmosphere as well as the KTV experiences. "It's called "tai-ke," a phrase that originally meant "redneck" but has now come to encompass a youth-focused lifestyle that celebrates both the declasse (flip-flops, Long Life cigarettes) and the haute (Gucci, Macallan)." [3] - The New York Times To do so, "Tai-Ker" is the element we'd like to bring into our system. "Tai-Ker" is "Taiwanese-style guest" in literal translation. This vocabulary has double meanings. From a negative word to a trendy style. Now days, a sub-culture has been formed by those who like bright and dazzling decorations and show off all the time. Particular Taiwanese accent goes along with exaggerated outfits. The Tai-Ker style is now pervading throughout Taiwan. The style strongly reflects on the music, dresses and dances. In dancing pool, Tai-Ker always stand out with their vivid visual images. They like techno music, patterned shirt, white socks on black shoes, blue-and-white slippers, betel nuts. They are so enjoying themselves while screaming and dancing... A particular dacing is shaking and nodding heads with the techno beats, it's also the time when people get high in the small partition.
T-KTV is trying to enhance the joyful surrounding and social communication in the designed small space. Rich multimedia presentation is applied in the space. The limted number of the participants and the size of the space eliminate the social constraints in a certain level. Through communications, people get more familiar with each other in this event. A regular person could be a star or feeling "Almost Famous". As an audience, they could be accompanied dancers within our designed environment. It is encouraged to participate other's singing. "To get high in KTV, there should be three important factors. First of all, there should be dancing music. Secondly, the song should be popular enough. Finally, there must be someone jumping out and leading others' moves and bringing up the chemistry." said Mr. Lin in our previous contextual study on KTV. back to top |
