Literary and Linguistic Computing Advance Access originally published online on May 4, 2009
Literary and Linguistic Computing 2009 24(2):153-160; doi:10.1093/llc/fqp012
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This article appears in the following Literary and Linguistic Computing issue: Special Issue 'Selected papers from Digital Humanities 2008, University of Oulu, Finland, June 25–29' [View the issue table of contents]
Performance as digital text: Capturing signals and secret messages in a media-rich experience
Digital Media Laboratory, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
University Libraries, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, USA
Correspondence: Susan L. Wiesner, Executive Director, Dance Heritage Coalition, 1111 16th Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, USA. E-mail: swiesner{at}danceheritage.org
 |
Abstract |
|---|
As libraries increasingly undertake digitization projects, it behooves us to consider the collection/capture, organization, preservation, and dissemination of all forms of documentation, including and beyond written text. While several libraries have funded projects which acknowledge the need to digitize other forms of text, few have extended the digital projects to include film, much less performed texts. Further, as more performing arts incorporate born-digital elements, use digital tools to create media-rich performance experiences, and look to the possibility for digital preservation of the performance text, the capture of the performance event and its born-digital artefacts must be considered. This article, then, presents a first look at the ARTeFACT project, undertaken at the University of Virginia Library in collaboration with an introductory course in Engineering and a student choreographer at Brenau University Women's College. Historical intersections of technology and dance are introduced, theoretical concerns of using technology in dance are considered, the processes involved in the creation, capture, and preservation of dance data are discussed along with the technologies used to produce an interactive dance performance.