Glossary

Here are definitions for some of the terms that are used in this manual. Please let us know if something is missing.

Audience: people present online at a performance, but not logged in. The audience can participate via the text chat, but do not have access to the same tools as the players. 

Avatar: a graphical icon that can be held and moved around the stage by a player, and that can speak. 

Backdrop: a graphic which fills the stage behind any avatars and props that are placed on it. A backdrop can also extend behind the text chat. 

Chatters: the online audience are also referred to as "chatters", as they contribute to the performance via a text chat function. 

Cyberformance: live online performance where remote players and/or audience use internet technologies to come together in real time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberformance

Drawing: functionality that allows real time drawing directly onto the stage. 

Foyer: the home page of an UpStage server – where the audience can come to see what's on, and where players can log in. 

Mirror: the square on a stage that shows a player which avatar they are currently holding. 

Palette: e.g. "drawing palette" or "audio palette" – a set of tools for a particular function. 

Player: a logged-in participant in a performance. Players have access to on-stage tools which allow them to manipulate avatars, backdrops and props, and can have different levels of permissions to allow them to access the Workshop and administration tools.

Prop: a graphic which can be held by an avatar or placed on the stage using an invisible avatar. 

Splash screen: a sort of "curtain" that appears over the stage while it loads; the splash screen shows the name of the stage, a loading progress indicator and an editable welcome message. 

Stage: a dynamic web page where you can place and move avatars, props and backdrops to create a performance. 

Stage tools: tools visible on the stage to logged-in players (but not visible to the audience) that enable the players to manipulate media on the stage in real time. 

Text chat: an input field and text chat window, where avatars’ speech and audience text appears and is visible to everyone; the text chat window can be scrolled up and down to read text that has been entered previously, and can be accessed for saving by adding /log to the end of the stage url. 

Tools: the buttons, sliders and icons that allow logged-in players to manipulate media. 

UpStage: UpStage is an open source platform for cyberformance: remote performers combine images, animations, audio, web cams, text and drawing in real-time for an online audience. Players and audience need only a standard web browser with the Flash player plug-in. For more information about the UpStage, visit the web site: www.upstage.org.nz.

Wardrobe: the interface through which players can select avatars on a stage; an alphabeticised and scrollable list of the icons and names of the avatars assigned to that particular stage. 

Whispering: silent text communication between logged-in players that is not visible to the audience. 

Workshop: the "back stage" interface where logged-in players can upload media, view and edit existing media, create and manage stages and manage players.