Audience evaluation and biometric technology: challenges and opportunities

© 2018 Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. Evaluating the audience experience for performing arts events is notoriously challenging. Yet proving the impact of arts events is increasingly important, particularly when seeking to apply for much needed government and philanthropic funding. Researchers in the field of affective computing have turned to biometric technology to gather vital data on the audience experience in a rigorous and robust manner. Unfortunately, arts researchers have been more reluctant to use such technology for audience evaluations. This paper reviews the literature on audience evaluations, with a focus on how biometric technology is being used to capture the audience experience. This review highlights a gap in existing methodologies and makes a case for the use of Facial Recognition Technology to be explored and further developed, in order to gather important information on an audience's emotional reactions to the performing arts events, as well as their demographic characteristics.