The Creation and Use of Digital Collections for Performing Arts Daisy Abbott and Professor Seamus Ross, AHDS Performing Arts & HATII, University of Glasgow

What is the Arts and Humanities Data Service? A UK national service aiding the discovery, creation and preservation of digital resources in and for research, teaching and learning in the arts and humanities. To support teaching and research, our activities include: Long term data preservation Advice on the creation, discovery and use of digital resources Research into the uses of digital data and its benefits to HE Research into and support of innovative digital technologies, standards, and infrastructures Promotion of best practice in these areas

Subject Centres AHDS Performing Arts is one of five subject centres which, together with the Executive, form the AHDS.

Purpose of the scoping study was to understand: The nature of ‘digital resources’ created and used in the Performing Arts How their creation and use is integrated into the research, teaching and learning process What methods scholars are using The needs of the research and teaching community in terms of advice, technology, and discovering Performing Arts resources And the relationship between AHDS Performing Arts and the communities of users and content creators we serve.

Getting to Know Our Audience: AHDS Performing Arts Scoping Study The report’s key findings can be categorised into four areas: 1.The current state of play in Performing Arts research, teaching, and learning. 2.The creation and use of digital resources for Performing Arts. 3.The requirements of the Performing Arts community. 4.Wider issues regarding the digital representation of Performing Arts and their documentation and preservation. The Scoping Study was sent out to every university library and Performing Arts department in the UK. It is freely available online at

How can the study of performance and performance theory be aided by digital resources? “A work of art born on the stage lives only for a moment, and no matter how beautiful it may be it cannot be commanded to stay with us.” (Stanislavski, My Life in Art, 1948) Performance is ephemeral. It is studied through evidence.

Performance as a live event, or ‘text’ Deliberate construction of meaning through ‘signs’ Meaning is created by every element present, deliberate or accidental Individual ‘readings’ of each performance text Readings provide feedback into the text itself. All of these elements form a total performative experience This overall approach is related to the semiotic and phenomenological theoretical approaches.

Performance as created and received by people; subjectivity and agency Many theoretical approaches cover the agency and subjectivity of both the ‘authors’ of a work and its ‘receivers’ or audience. Deliberately and self-consciously subjective Related to psychoanalytic theory, feminist and gender theories, and reader-response and reception theory

Performance as a product of society Rich relationship with societal context Related to post-modern and materialist theoretical perspectives Technological opportunities can lead to Performing Arts becoming self-reflexive and the lines between different media are blurred

Stages of performance Pre-text (  subtext) Process Performance Text Post-text Context (  subtext)

From: Five Centuries of Scottish Music ( s/collections/five-centuries.htm) s/collections/five-centuries.htm

From: Stagework (

From: Designing Shakespeare (

Two reviews from the Times Digital Archive (accessed through and Financial Times

Examples of digital evidence Performance as ‘text’ Subjectivity and agency Performance as product of society Pre-textPDF of musical score Miller’s preface to The Crucible Comparison of dance notations across time/cultures Process3D models showing ideas for set designs Scanned image of a director’s notes on the script Scanned newspaper clippings which led to a devised work Performance text Digital video of a performance Interviews with audience members Motion capture data which was used to transmit a dancer’s movements over a network Post-textScholarly analysis of the mise-en- scène of a play ‘Word of mouth’ publicity Newspaper review of a concert ContextPDF of a glossy programme from a West End musical Statistics on whether ‘A-list’ stars increase box-office take Text detailing the compulsory dress code for orchestra musicians

Existing digital resources Performance as ‘text’ Subjectivity and agency Performance as product of society Pre-text Process Performance text Post-text Context Some resources Most resources

Desired digital resources Performance as ‘text’ Subjectivity and agency Performance as product of society Pre-text Process Performance text Post-text Context Most sought- after types of digital resource

The characteristics of digital collections affect the methodology of study of those collections. Many existing digital resources provide contextual evidence and are suitable only for a material or historical theoretical model of study. Digital resources for which there is a particularly high demand: Evidence of the performance text Materials documenting the creative process Resources which encourage a semiotic/textual or subjective analysis of the evidence. Future directions for digital resources?

Daisy Abbott AHDS Performing Arts collections: AHDS Performing Arts Scoping Study (PDF, 1.7Mb)