Audience response

Infrared audience response control

Audience response is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems, to create interactivity between a presenter and her audience. Systems for co-located audiences combine wireless hardware with presentation software and systems for remote audiences may use the telephone or web polls for audiences watching through television or the internet .

The Audience Response Process For Co-Located Audiences

The presenter uses a computer and a projector to project her presentation for the audience to see. Presentation slides built with the audience response software display questions with several possible correct answers. The audience participates by selecting the answer they believe to be correct and pushing the corresponding key on their individual wireless keypad. Their answer is then sent to a base station - or receiver - that is also attached to the presenter's computer. The audience response software collects the results and the aggregate data is graphically displayed within the presentation for all to see.

Depending on the presenter's requirements, the data can either be collected anonymously (e.g. in the case of voting) or it can be traced to individual participants in circumstances where tracking is required (e.g. classroom quizzes). Incoming data is also stored in a database that resides on the host computer, and data reports can be created after the presentation for further analysis.

The Benefits of Audience Response

There are many reasons for the increasing use of audience response systems (ARS). The tendency to answer based on crowd psychology is reduced because, unlike hand raising, it is difficult to see which selection others are making. The ARS also allows for faster tabulation of answers for large groups than manual methods. Additionally, many college professors use ARS systems to take attendance or even grade answers in large lecture halls, which would be highly time-consuming without the system.

Audience response offers many benefits to those who use it in group settings. These are just a few of the potential benefits:

• Improve attentiveness
• Increase knowledge retention
• Poll anonymously
• Track individual responses
• Display polling results immediately
• Speed-up decision making
• Foster individual ownership of group decisions
• Create an interactive and fun learning environment
• Gather data for reporting and analysis
• Confirm audience understanding of key points immediately

Applications

Audience response is utilized across a broad range of industries and organizations. A few examples include:

• Education
• Corporate Training
• Control Self-Assessment
• Delegate Voting
• Market Research
• Decision Support
• Game Shows e.g. Ask the audience on Who Wants to be Millionaire
• Conferences and Events
• Executive Decision Making
• Continuing Medical Education

Audience Response Systems

An Audience Response System (ARS), or Personal Response System (PRS), allows large groups of people to vote on a topic or answer a question. Each person has a remote control with which selections can be made. Each remote communicates with a computer via receivers located around the room. After a set time - or when all paticipants have answered - the system shuts off and tabulates the results. Typically, the results are instantly made available to the participants via a bar graph displayed on projector.

In situations where tracking is required, the serial number of each remote control is entered beforehand in the control computer's database or the students identity number. In this way the answer of each individual can later be identified.

In addition to the presenter's computer and projector, the typical audience response system is comprised of the following components:

• base station (receiver)
• wireless keypads (one for each participant)
• audience response system software

History

Since the 1960's, a number of companies have offered Audience/Personal Response Systems, several of whom are now defunct or changed their business model.

Circa 1966, Audience Studies Institute of Hollywood, California developed a proprietary analog ARS system for evaluating the response of a theatre audience to unreleased motion pictures, television shows and commercials. This early ARS was used by ASI's clients - major motion picture and television studios and advertising agencies - to evaluate the effectiveness of whatever it was they wanted to accomplish, for example, selling more products, increasing movie ticket sales, and achieving a higher fee per commercial slot. Often, a client would show different versions to different audiences, e.g. different movie endings, to gauge their relative effectiveness.

ASI would give out free tickets on the street to bring people into the theatre, called the "Preview House," for particular showings where each attendee would fill out a questionnaire and then be placed in a seat with a "dial" handset outfitted with a single knob that each attendee would turn to a position to indicate his or her level of interest: turning the knob all the way left for "dull" to turning all the way to the right for "great."

In 1976, ASI upgraded their system to become fully digital, have Yes/No buttons and, in some cases, numeric keys for entering in numbers, choices and monetary amounts. Keypads have become quite advanced with the most modern like those of IML[1] incorporating microphones, text messaging and looking very much like mobile phones. At least one system, votapedia[2] has dispensed with specialist hardware altogether using the normal mobile phone as the keypad with the audience dialling different numbers to indicate their choices. Votapedia adds audience response as an extension to Wikimedia

One of the oldest companies in ARS that still offers both service and sales of ARS equipment is Quick Tally Interactive Systems[3], Inc.] of Beverly Hills, California, who, from 1982, has offered several different types of wired and wireless handsets. Currently, they are the suppliers for such venerable ARS uses as America's Funniest Home Videos, Last Comic Standing and Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge. IML was sold in December 2005 for 20 million British pounds which indicates the size of the audience response market.

Another of the industry’s very earliest systems was the Consensor[4]. In the late sixties Bill Simmons, a recently retired IBM executive reflected on how unproductive most meetings were and built a system to improve them. He named his brainchild the Consensor. In 1972 he applied for a patent which was granted in 1974.

The Consensor was a system of dials, wires, and three lights; red, yellow, and green. A question was asked verbally and people would turn their dials anywhere from 0 to 10. If the majority agreed, the green lamp would light. If not, either the yellow or red would light, depending on the level of disagreement.

Bill teamed with a couple of others to form Applied Futures, one of the very first Audience Response companies. Although business was strong for this fledgling company, the Command and Control management style of the day proved a formidable opponent to this new tool which promoted consensus building.

Today (2006), audience response technology has evolved, taking advantage of Moore's Law, "The number of transistors and resistors on a chip doubling every 18 months" and Microsoft's dominance in presentation software to produce a product that was traditionally limited to polling specialists (typically required to implement a successful ad hoc polling event). Today's office professional (or professor) with average skills in Power Point can integrate audience response with credit card sized reponse pads [5] running in a Power Point overlay to create powerful interactive presntations.

Hardware

Infrared audience response receiver

The majority of audience response systems use wireless hardware. Two primary technologies exist to transmit data from the keypads to the base stations: radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR). A few companies also offer browser-based software that routes the data via an IP address.

Radio Frequency (RF): Ideal for large group environments, RF systems do not require line of site to operate and can accommodate hundreds of voters on a single base station. Using some systems, multiple base stations can be linked together in order to handle audiences that number in the thousands. Other systems allow over a thousand on just one base. Because the data travels via radio frequency, the participant merely needs to be within range of the base station (300 - 500 feet). Some advanced models can accommodate additional features, such as , multi-digit answers, short word answers, user log-in capabilities and even multi-site polling.

Infrared (IR): IR audience response systems are better suited for smaller groups. IR uses the same technology as a TV remote requiring line-of-site between the keypad and base station. This works well for a single keypad but fails due to interference when signals from multiple keypads arrive simultaneously at the receiver. IR systems are typically more affordable than RF systems, but do not provide information back to the keypad.

Browser-Based: Browser-based audience response systems are still in the early stages of development. They are software-only system, intended to work with the participants' existing wireless devices, such as notebook computers or PDAs. The software resides on the facilitator's computer, who creates a polling session with an assigned IP address. Participants log-in to that IP address through their own Internet-enabled device. The participant data is transmitted through the IP address to the presenter's computer, where the data is stored. The data can then be displayed through the projector and also on each participant's wireless device. Because the transfer of data goes through an IP address, proximity to a base station or line-of-site is not an issue.

Software

Audience response software enables the presenter to collect participant data, display graphical polling results and export the data to be used in reporting and analysis. Usually the presenter can create and deliver her entire presentation with the ARS software, either as a stand-alone presentation platform or as a plug-in to PowerPoint® or Keynote3®.

External Links

• Audience Response Information - Academic research and articles discussing the benefits of an audience response system