ShEMP : A Mobile Framework for Shared Emotion , Music , and Physiology

As we continue to strive toward a deeper understanding of human social interaction, the playing field continues to change beneath our feet. Ever swiftly, in even the last decade, the means by which we interact, the frequency in which we do so, even the meaning of interaction within daily life continues to evolve as humans become connected in novel ways—one need only consider the “Twittersphere” or how text messages have come to largely replace paper letters or even email communication. Since 2010, partners in the Social Interaction and Entrainment using Music Performance Experimentation have been investigating the concepts of emotional contagion, leadership, entrainment, and co-creation, and how they support social interaction through a series of studies of music performance and listening. This paper introduces ShEMP, a mobile software framework for Shared Emotion, Music, and Physiology. ShEMP provides a new set of tools for use in the design and execution of experiments that take this investigation of human emotion and interaction further afield into shared music experiences that occur between groups connected via their mobile devices. Here, we provide an overview of the software framework and a description of a series of experiments that have motivated the development of ShEMP.