Breaching the Fourth Wall

Half the fun of surfing the web and interact with others online is the ability to play detective (or stalker, if taken to the extreme) by piecing together bits of information to form the identity of someone who is otherwise defined only by username.

While exploring the social bookmarking site del.icio.us, one such user became the subject of one of these puzzles. I’d stumbled across UTTheatre while looking through sites on stagecraft and theater production and, after scanning through the topics that he tagged, discovered that his tagging practices lined up beautifully with my interests.

What do I know about UTTheatre directly? Not much. There is little user information directly listed, but I can infer a great deal from which sites he tags. His most popular tag is theatre, followed by entertainment, and stage. Yet what separates him from many of the amateur theatre practitioners online is he is also a well versed in professional theatre demonstrated by his inclusion of more sophisticated tags like LORT (League of Regional Theatres), AEA/Equity (the actors and stage manager’s union), and DMX (a command protocol for theatrical equipment). Though most of his tagging is related to stage production, he has ties to Tennessee, also suggested by the University of Tennessee username, and enjoys sports.

UTTheatre does a lot of tagging (over 300 separate sites!) and is diligent about posting comments for each, although many of his comments do not include much beyond the name of the page. Despite the lack of commenting, his bookmarks make a great index of online resources for major theatrical manufacturers and suppliers as well as general information about what is going on in the industry.

My primary complaint about UTTheatre’s tags is they could be better organized. For all of the well-tagged resources listed, the basic lists and cloud viewing options do not do the content justice. That being said, for virtually every subdivision of technical theatre, UTTheatre has a tag and several sites listed.

Blog readers will not find anything truly out of the ordinary by searching through UTTheatre’s delicious profile, but it is a great launch pad for anyone looking for information on different aspects of live event production that has not already established an extensive database of their own online resources. From the office supply and organization needs of a stage manager to the gadgets and tools of the stagehand, UTTheatre’s page makes a great starting point for anyone interested in staging live events.
Half the fun of surfing the web and interact with others online is the ability to play detective (or stalker, if taken to the extreme) by piecing together bits of information to form the identity of someone who is otherwise defined only by username.

While exploring the social bookmarking site del.icio.us, one such user became the subject of one of these puzzles. I’d stumbled across UTTheatre while looking through sites on stagecraft and theater production and, after scanning through the topics that he tagged, discovered that his tagging practices lined up beautifully with my interests.

What do I know about UTTheatre directly? Not much. There is little user information directly listed, but I can infer a great deal from which sites he tags. His most popular tag is theatre, followed by entertainment, and stage. Yet what separates him from many of the amateur theatre practitioners online is he is also a well versed in professional theatre demonstrated by his inclusion of more sophisticated tags like LORT (League of Regional Theatres), AEA/Equity (the actors and stage manager’s union), and DMX (a command protocol for theatrical equipment). Though most of his tagging is related to stage production, he has ties to Tennessee, also suggested by the University of Tennessee username, and enjoys sports.

UTTheatre does a lot of tagging (over 300 separate sites!) and is diligent about posting comments for each, although many of his comments do not include much beyond the name of the page. Despite the lack of commenting, his bookmarks make a great index of online resources for major theatrical manufacturers and suppliers as well as general information about what is going on in the industry.

My primary complaint about UTTheatre’s tags is they could be better organized. For all of the well-tagged resources listed, the basic lists and cloud viewing options do not do the content justice. That being said, for virtually every subdivision of technical theatre, UTTheatre has a tag and several sites listed.

Blog readers will not find anything truly out of the ordinary by searching through UTTheatre’s delicious profile, but it is a great launch pad for anyone looking for information on different aspects of live event production that has not already established an extensive database of their own online resources. From the office supply and organization needs of a stage manager to the gadgets and tools of the stagehand, UTTheatre’s page makes a great starting point for anyone interested in staging live events.