Miguel Varela

I am a theatre researcher, web developer and translator who has lived in Mexico, The Netherlands, Singapore and Indonesia. My main interests are the digital/computational humanities and the theatre performances of Southeast Asia (primarily in Java, Indonesia).

My work is guided by two questions:

• How to combine computational methods (natural language processing, network analysis, video processing and geospatial analysis) with ethnographic and historical methods to study theatre performances?

• How to leverage best practices from user experience design (UX) to develop interactive, multimedia platforms to communicate scholarly research to a wider audience?

To answer these questions I often collaborate with scientists and engineers. At NUS I teach courses on computational thinking for the humanities, theatre in Southeast Asia and interaction design for intercultural exchanges.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) National University of Singapore (2010 — 2015)
• MA Maastricht University (2008 — 2009)
• Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) (2008 — 2008)
• BA Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2003 — 2007)

Companies

• Assistant Professor National University of Singapore (2015)
• Online marketing and blogging Impakt Festival (2009 — 2009)
• Técnico académico (Assistant manager) Universidad Autonoma de la Ciudad de Mexico (2007 — 2008)
• Writer Paso de gato (2005 — 2006)

Current Research

My current research projects focus on the application of computational methods to the study of theatre. These include textual analytics, network analysis, image and video processing and geospatial analysis. For this work, I often collaborate with scientists and engineers.

My secondary area of research is the development of multimedia interfaces for theatre research.

Research Interests

• Indonesian Theatre and Performance
• Combining computational and interpretive methods in theatre research
• Developing user interfaces for theatre scholarship

Recent Publication

"Theater as data: computational journeys into theatre research" (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021)