It’s Also What You Don’t Ask

I got a call this weekend from a company doing a survey on local radio. The purpose, I was told, was to improve local programming. I told the girl I wasn’t sure I could help since I didn’t listen to local radio, but rather listened to a feed from a radio station over the internet.

I am guessing she decided my answer fell in the doesn’t listen to radio category because she thanked me for my time and hung up. I also assume that she was working for a company hired to conduct the survey and not for the company(ies) who commissioned it and thus had no real investment in exploring why I didn’t listen.

If the purpose was to improve the quality of local programming, the next questions should be: what do I listen to, if such programming was offered locally would I listen and if not, what is it about the online feed that was so appealing?

Even if I didn’t listen to any radio at all and only to my CD collection or iPod, a little discovery as to why I didn’t listen to radio might be in order. My reasons might be reversible if the right station came along.

Of course, maybe they didnt really want to improve programming but had some sort of agenda they were pursuing with the survey. One of the cardinal rules of decision based surveying is never ask a question you have no intention of acting upon.

The whole incident made me think maybe I should look back at the surveys I use to see if they are still pertinent. I also got to thinking that perhaps I should also read the responses a little more closely to see if they clue me in to other questions I should be asking. There may be a single perfect survey question for determining loyalty and growth, but there are plenty of other things I want to know.

All That Work, Never To Be Seen

I had a bit of a cautionary lesson in the last few days about providing services to persons with disabilities. The director of our Fall student drama production was approached a few weeks ago by a student in his class. The student is studying to be a sign language interpreter and wanted to know if he could use the performance as practice.

The director and I both agreed and the student and another more experienced interpreter in his cohort have been attending nearly every rehearsal for the last 6 weeks.

I was just preparing to advertise the signed performance in our ads and press releases when the assistant theatre manager mentioned that fact to the more experienced interpreter. He went into a panic and begged us not to publicize the fact.

It turns out we misunderstood the original intent of the request which was to simply just practice. The reason why they only wanted to practice is because they feared being blacklisted for taking jobs away from professional interpreters. I pointed out that they were students practicing on a student production at a college. Technically we are taking jobs away from professional actors but no one begrudges the students’ the opportunity to learn the craft.

The older interpreter having worked professionally (he was taking classes to improve his skill) in the community for sometime now was concerned that there would be trouble even if we billed the interpretation as a student effort. (Something I intended to do from the beginning under the assumption they might mess up now and again.)

My surprise at some of the stories he told me about problems people have faced in the past was somewhat mild since I have belonged to some small groups who have tended to be protective and insular. Not to make excuses for the extreme treatment to which people have been subject.

The situation did frustrate me to some degree though because we have tried to get signers before and were told they weren’t interested in traveling out to our location. Here were some guys who were willing to put the effort in and they were too intimidated to do it live.

I will say I have new respect for the process people go through to prepare to sign shows. I worked at a theatre that offered audio-described performances for the sight impaired. The preparation time the describers invested seems a lot shorter than what these guys tell me is involved with signing for a performance.

The cautionary lesson I referred to earlier is that offering services to people with disabilities is sometimes more involved than simply making plans and arrangements well in advance.

Of course, I also have a lot of respect for these two guys for coming out every night to rehearsal despite having no prospect of working before a live audience or given getting graded for the effort. I wish them luck. It seems like a tough career they are dedicating themselves to.

Tread the Boards Online

Have you ever visited a Renaissance Festival and wished you had the guts to dress up in those costumes and speaking in a faux cockney accent?

Well now can from the privacy of your own home! Sort of.

The MacArthur Foundation recently awarded a grant for the development of Arden: The World of Shakespeare. According to CNet “The idea behind the project is to produce a virtual world steeped in the rich lore and characters of the playwright’s work.”

The game will be a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft. Different parts will be devoted to different plays. According to the article, they are going to start with Richard III.

The grant was awarded to Edward Castronova who has famously studied the economics of online games. Arden will continue some of his work in this area and provide an arena for sociologists, political scientists and economists to study human behavior under changing situations.

But to the player these motivations shouldn’t be discernable during game play. They will be there for the fun.

The game universe will be generally limited to what could be found in Shakespeare’s universe. Magic will be limited to what might be found in The Tempest or MacBeth as will technology, professions, etc. Though finding Shakespearean text will empower you.

Though the intent is mostly to benefit social sciences, I wonder if playing the game might not provide good research for actors. Find out how a peasant might have really felt after spending hours of drudgery online. Want to discover real motivation for delivering Henry V’s St. Crispen’s Day speech? Get ye to the Battle of Agincourt. (Of course, you might be felled by dysentery on the way if the game keeps things realistic.)

IRS Gonna Getcha

Apropos of my bonus ponder yesterday, I commented on Artful Manager that a flexible view of non-profit status might not be well received by the IRS.

Lo and behold, the Chronicle of Philanthrophy has an article about how the IRS is scrutinizing non-profits more closely these days. The unit handling non-profits is still fairly small, but it is getting more personnel. They are conducting more audits than before. They have started a new program of preliminary investigations and partial audits to help clarify matters. (Check out the charts at the bottom to see how these activities grown in recent years.)

To balance the scary spectre of an audit, they have also started offering training for charities as well to help them keep their books in good shape and their activities in compliance.