GSCA 2010 Conference Attendees Awareness and Attitudes Towards DIGSS

The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) conducted a study to examine the impact of an information campaign presented at the 2010 Giant-Screen Cinema Association Annual Conference and Trade Show in Chattanooga, TN. The purpose of the study was to determine if changes in Conference attendees' awareness and attitudes towards the Digital Immersive Giant-Screen Specifications (DIGSS) could be attributed to the information campaign. Data were collected using an online questionnaire containing 11 "post/retrospective-pre"" items exploring the level of knowledge and attitude Conference attendees had both prior to and after attending the Conference. Participants were recruited via email request, using email addresses provided by the GSCA Executive Director. Two reminder emails were sent to those who were not recorded as completing the study. Eighty-two participants responded, nearly 26% of the 319 valid email addresses supplied to the researchers. The sample contained a higher percentage of professionals affiliated with institutional giant-screen theaters than had attended the conference. Overall findings reflected a significant increase in knowledge and positive attitudes toward the DIGSS effort when comparing pre-Conference to post-Conference results on nine out of the 11 items (one negatively worded statement was used for comparison with 10 positively worded items). These results suggest the information campaign presented at the Conference was effective in increasing awareness, knowledge, and contributed to an increase in supportive attitudes of giant-screen professionals that would encourage further development of a shared DIGSS. Examining our findings by number of years in the giant-screen industry revealed that participants who attended the conference and have worked in the giant-screen industry for two-or-less years or from five-to-10 years were more likely to feel that the outcome of DIGSS will affect the kind of work they are currently doing. Participants who have worked in the giant screen industry for two-to-five years were less likely to feel DIGSS will impact their work than those working in the giant screen industry for ten-or-more years. This latter result was consistent in both the retrospective-pre results and the post-conference results. Most of these respondents were aware of the current options and quality levels associated with conversion to digital. Those who work as managers in a museum/educational organization revealed a greater degree of change between their retrospective-pre and post responses than those involved in film making/production/distribution. These museum professionals were more likely to feel that the industry should be trying to fill giant-screens rather than conforming to conventional shapes and were therefore more supportive of the unique attributes of current GS formats. Additionally, those managers museum/educational organizations were more likely to feel that DIGSS should address both dome and giant flat screens than those who were in our "other" category (e.g. academics and journalists). A slight majority of participants stated they believe analog films will no longer be available within the next four to seven year, with a smaller percentage believing that the format will be unavailable in three years or less. The vast majority (11 out of 12) of those who believe it will be 8-12 years before analog films are no longer available have worked in the industry for greater than 12 years. Understanding and addressing these differences in opinion of the end of analog will be useful in providing further justification for the urgency of developing and implementing DIGSS.