**2. Theater as a model for computer mediated activities**

The book Computers as Theater by Laurel [4] was initially published in 1993. It initiated an insightful discussion on an alternative understanding of digital technologies, an understanding that is based on theater as a model for human-human interaction and extending to human-technology interaction. Laurel underlines the fact that when using computers, people are essentially interacting with representational worlds in a way that resembles how characters interact in theatrical plays [4] (p. xvii). Laurel's ideas were subsequently mainstreamed in computer science after the first publication of her book. The computer science field that was mainly influenced is certainly the field of Human Computer Interaction. Don Norman, cognitive expert and usability engineering pioneer, in the foreword of the second edition of the book, underlines the importance of moving from a traditional interface-oriented conception of computer systems to a theater-oriented conceptual framework:

*When I first encountered Brenda's ideas, I envisioned them being applied to the formal elements of display screens and the early devices used for interaction. This is a very limited viewpoint. It is better to think of these systems and their programmed applications as a platform, the stage upon which the dramas are enacted.*

*[…] Thinking about interfaces is thinking too small. Designing human-computer experience isn't about building a better desktop. It's about creating imaginary worlds that have a special relationship to reality—worlds in which we can extend, amplify, and enrich our own capacities to think, feel, and act. [4] (p. xii)*

This is indeed an important aspect of ICT: the ability to bring into life imaginary worlds. To put it in another perspective, we could argue that the power of ICT is the capability to bring into life what resides in our minds, incarnating our ideas, so that our senses can grasp and interact with these ideas. In this respect, the computer code of any software system could be considered as the "rules" that we provide to a computer system to follow in order to create entities (i.e. symbols on screens, movements of computer controlled devices etc.) that are experienced by humans in a way that helps them construct representational worlds that extend, amplify and enrich their own capacities to think, feel and act (or better, interact) with these entities and through these interactions possibly create very real effects into the actual world.

Laurel makes emphasizes once more the capability of ICT to create representations that extend human agencies when she elaborates on the concept of "interface":

*[…] the computer [is] a machine naturally suited for representing things that you could see, control and play with. Its interesting potential lay not simply in its ability to perform calculations, but in its capacity to co-create and represent actions with human participants.*

*[…] reconceptualizing what computers do as enabling and representing actions that involve both human and technological participants suggests a design philosophy that diverges significantly from much of the received wisdom about interface design. [4] (p. 2)*

This capacity of computers to represent actions is very much related to the structure of theatrical plays:

*"All the world's a stage," said Jacques in William Shakespeare's As You Like It, "and all the men and women merely players." For us, the computer and its various programs and applications are the stage, providing the platform on which we enact our own scenes and activities. Much as plays are divided into acts, sometimes with intermissions, our computer-based activities are divided into sessions, sometimes separated by short periods and other times by long breaks. [4] (p. xiii)*

The above comment also underlines the need to support engagement (sessions) and detachment (short or long breaks) during an activity and bridge the gaps between different sessions through reminders, prompts etc. This is an important aspect of computers as means to represent action: The capacity to support human interactors with the ability to select when, where and how they will engage with the computer supported actions and disengage if needed.

Another important concept in Laurel's proposed framework is the notion of common ground: It refers to mutual knowledge, beliefs and assumptions between participants in an interaction, human and computer agents: All collective actions are built on common ground and its articulations. Laurel explains:

*The concept of common ground not only provides a superior model of the conversational process, but it also supports the idea that an interface is not simply the means whereby a person and a computer represent themselves to one another; rather, it forms a shared context for action in which both are agents. When the old tit-for-tat* 

*Onlife Drama: Towards a Reference Framework for Hyper-Connected Activity DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100238*

> *paradigm intrudes, the "conversation" is likely to break down, once again relegating person and computer to opposite sides of a "mystic gulf" filled with hidden processes, arbitrary understandings and misunderstandings, and power relationships that are competitive rather than cooperative. Mistakes, unanticipated outcomes, and error messages are typical evidence of such a breakdown in communication, in which the common ground becomes a sea of misunderstanding. [4] (p. 5)*

This is indeed an important point from the perspective of the need to support effective coordination between human and computer agents in hyper-connected environments. In other words, the need to design systems with appropriate "common ground" that will promote the collaboration between human and computer agents becomes critical. Such a common ground is related to the "intelligence" accommodated in computer agents from the one side and with the necessary skills and knowledge of human agents regarding the nature and the capabilities of ICT (codified with the terms digital literacy and digital fluency) on the other side. It is important to note that following the advances in AI, machine learning and other domains related to the development of smart computer agents, various initiatives are put forth the recent years addressing the need to educate the young generations in computational thinking and computer programming as a way to understand deeper the ICT and be able to participate in the digital culture in an active way [10].

In order to justify the capability of humans to combine worlds of representations created by computers and the physical world, i.e. human agency of creating mental models, Laurel emphasizes the role of imagination or fantasy and how theater creates imaginary worlds that have real world consequences [4] (pp. 35–38). Fantasy could be considered as the laboratory for virtual experiments related to problem solving. Arts can be described as the concrete representation of things initially emerging in artists' minds. This aspect of arts to bring mental realities into existence has been identified and used from the dawn of civilization. With the advent of computers, human societies have access to a new kind of "machine": One that can emulate any known medium, as Alan Kay (1984) observed:

*The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited. It is a medium that can dynamically simulate the details of any other medium, including media that cannot exist physically. It is not a tool, although it can act like many tools. It is the first metamedium, and as such it has degrees of freedom for representation and expression never before encountered and as yet barely investigated. [11] (p. 59)*
