5. conclusion and further discussions

Challenged by the complexity of studying practices taking place by and through digital media, theoreticians within the academic field of digital media studies are becoming progressively aware of how the diversity of digital media necessitate a corresponding diverse and interdisciplinary manner of approach. This thesis has strived to cover central features of the type of interdisciplinarity that blends theory with practice. By reference to my own practice from the collaborative, multimedia performance production Extended, I have reviewed exploratory digital media practice as an accompanying line of inquiery of different characteristics to the interpretive and critical analysis of traditional learning- and research designs of humanities. Three issues or research questions have surfaced as particularly central to the inquiry. How may practice-based methods inform studies of digital media? How may the interplay between practice and theory be conceptualised? How might practice-based research be communicated?

Much based on my own difficulties performing this practice-based thesis, I belive these issues are interlinked. I belive that these issues encompass pressing challenges within the field of digital media studies and embody a complexity that may be a matter of media studies at large, as media become progressively marked by digitalisation. Though being interrelated, these issues have been given differen weight in this thesis of limited length. I will now recapitulate my response to these issues and call attention to some of their connections. Contextual factors when reviewing collaborative experimental context of practice-based method will be emphasised as a result. A more developed understanding and distinct definition of practice-based method within the context of digital media studies will follow, before preparing the ground for further discussions.