Digital culture
This includes both the analysis of cultural datasets or contemporary “big data” of media consumption, and a humanities-based approach to the study of digital cultural text or cultural artefacts. This means that firstly, digitized (audio-visual) datasets of cultural heritage are studied by means of new quantitative methods and secondly, the peculiarities of, for instance, cross-media narratives or videogame types are analysed. Subsequently these two strands may be combined and used productively, for instance by proposing novel narrative techniques, thus providing an input into the work in the Creative Lab.
Audio-visual culture
In this new research programme, the evolution of Estonian audio-visual culture is observed from a regional perspective, in parallel and interwoven with both the East European and Nordic picture landscapes and production processes. The development of audio-visual culture is also studied in the context of border-crossings between media, i.e. significant attention is paid to intertextuality and inter-semiotic translations between different fields of arts in different eras, e.g. between literature and film, visual arts and film or music and film. Critical attention is also paid to the analysis of production and consumption mechanisms of audio-visual culture by relating the audio-visual form and narrative system to social, political and economic fields.
Digital creative industries
Videogaming and audio-visual industries have become the leading sub-fields within creative industries in regard to their turnovers and profitability. On the one hand, the development of audio-visual culture is strongly influenced by global market dynamics, while on the other hand, the audio-visual culture itself motivates technological innovation: consumer interest towards games and other media products directs the investments and innovation processes of the ICT sector. Therefore, the areas of the Centre also include an economic perspective and studies of digital media markets and management processes.
Here are some perspectives investigated within this research area:
- Studies of innovation processes in media and creative industries in the digital era;
- Specificities of media and digital creative industries markets of small countries;
- Innovation opportunities, business practices and operations of media markets related to digital heritage reuse;
- Cross-innovations within digital creative industries;
- Evolution of the regulative environment and media policies and
their influence on media and digital content production sub-sectors.