Who We Are

The Digital Performance Initiative (DPI) at Georgia Tech investigates the relationship between performance and digital media technologies. The researchers consist of professors, graduate students and undergraduates from across the university spectrum, representing such diverse fields as computer science, media studies, performance, and engineering.

Based in the Wesley Center for New Media, the purpose of the DPI is to examine theoretical issues posed by new genres of performance in digital environments such as liveness, interactivity, time, and space.

Performance itself has become a key field in recent humanities scholarship, functioning as a lens to focus critical thinking about the human experience in the arts, philosophy, literature, sociology, cultural anthropology, linguistics and education. The study of digital performance allows for an interdisciplinary approach to practicing and analyzing creative expression against the backdrop of contemporary culture.

Our Methodology

Our approach is a humanist theoretical inquiry coupled with an experimental research agenda. Our experiments draw from research methodologies adapted from the discipline of human-computer interaction. We use observation, surveys and questionnaires, ethnography, interviews, and video analysis. We are also currently developing a framework for researching and analyzing digital performances through the process of design. Design provides a way to construct meaning through the process of creating an object or artifact. The design process encourages us to pose new questions, confront theories in performance, and acknowledge our misconceptions in an authentic real-world context.