Let’s take a moment to think how cool it is that you’re reading this right now. At one point in the past I was sat crossed legged on the floor of my student house in Lincoln contemplating what I was to write about in my first blog. Now here you are, sat at your computer/ phone/ tablet/ personal butler reading this to you (cross out as appropriate) experiencing it for yourself. It’s almost like travelling in time. Well, not really. However, in his book ‘Digital Performance’, Steve Dixon wrote “Many home pages and blogs constitute digital palimpsests of Erving Goffman’s notion of performative presentations of the self, with the subject being progressively erased, redefined, and reinscribed as a persona/performer within in the proscenium arch of the computer monitor.” (Dixon, 2007, 3)

His (rather brilliant) proposition explains that this blog could very easily be seen as a performance. It’s a bit difficult for me to get up and give you all a rousing rendition of On My Own from this medium, but he proposes the very essence of my words on this page is a redefined version of myself. My pattern of speech, my thoughts, my words. Think of it as some form of transmediality. Taking the ideas from one medium (my noggin) to another medium (your computer screen).

I guess what I’m trying to say is, albeit rather colourfully, is that the internet is vastly interesting component in the modern world, especially when combined with other mediums like theater to create something new. Having myself presented here on your screen is something of a performance. You could even suggest that “The world wide web… constitutes the largest theater in the world, offering everyone fifteen megabytes of fame” (Dixon, 2007, 4)

Works Cited

Dixon, Steve (2007) Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theatre, Dance, Performance Art and Installation. Chapter 1. Cambridge and London: MIT Press