mass perception

If you've been to a concert or other live performance in the last few years, you have probably noticed a phenomenon like the one in the photo to the right. As the show gets started, a glowing school of digital cameras emerges out of the night like a swarm of fireflies and persists until the lights come back on. (Not quite as pretty as lighters, but at least they don't burn your thumbs.) When I see this I wonder:

1. What does the show look like from that guy's camera over there? I wish I could tune in and see, now.
2. What kind of creation will emerge when it becomes possible for artists to access all of those different electronic eyes and ears at the same time?

When live, phone-to-phone-to-Web video streaming becomes widely used, I think we will see some very new takes on live performance and I'm really looking forward to it.

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Notes:

• I took the photo at a fireworks show in the Butchart Gardens near Victoria, British Columbia.
• If you are interested in live streaming technology that can work from phone to phone, check out a friend's company ZygoDigital.
• If you want to read some extraordinarily prescient stories involving near future technologies like this - the ubiquitous internet connectivity aspect in particular - see Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End".
• Thanks to the comment on my last post, I am trying out Zemanta on this one.