Research + Partner Map
RESEARCH + PARTNER MAP
A living, evidence-based record of how I am actively shifting my art and digital practice toward positive impact and greater environmental responsibility.
Can an artwork eventually create more verified environmental benefit than the environmental cost required to make and maintain it?
I do not know yet. I believe it may be possible with conscious intention and effort, and I am using this page to document the experiment rather than assume the answer.
Measured results are labeled measured. Estimates are labeled estimates. Experiments are labeled experiments. Unanswered questions remain visible as unanswered questions.
I want to record sources, dates, baselines, methods, tools and partners evaluated, actions taken, results, and changes in practice. The goal is not to call the studio “green.” The goal is to find out, with evidence, how much better it can become and whether the work can create meaningful positive effects beyond its own footprint.
The map changes as the research changes. Potential partners can become conversations. Conversations can become experiments. Experiments can become measured results. Results should change how I work.
01 · Cleaner computing
Research how generators, websites, storage, and digital artworks can use less computation and cleaner electricity without diminishing the experience of the work.
Question: What can be eliminated, compressed, cached, reused, or powered differently?
Evidence to track: page weight, media size, requests, storage, computation where disclosed, and changes made to reduce unnecessary use.
Status: Active research
02 · Environmental measurement
Develop a repeatable environmental ledger for each work so the studio can compare one experiment with the next instead of relying on vague claims.
Question: What can we actually measure or credibly estimate: page weight, storage, hosting, generation, computation, energy, lifetime, or use?
Rule: Never turn an estimate into a measured fact.
Status: Active research
03 · Green hosting + infrastructure
Investigate where each digital work lives and whether its hosting, storage, and supporting infrastructure can move toward more transparent, lower-impact electricity and computing.
Potential research source/partner: The Green Web Foundation and verified greener-hosting providers.
Status: Active partner and infrastructure research
04 · Reduction first, then residual impact
Prioritize reducing avoidable impact before investigating responsible ways to address residual emissions or impacts that cannot yet be eliminated.
Potential research areas: durable carbon removal, credible climate finance, transparent methodologies, and independent verification.
Status: Research
05 · Restoration + positive effect
Test whether a digital artwork can do more than reduce harm by supporting measurable ecological or social benefit beyond its own footprint.
Question: Could a work help fund habitat, biodiversity, restoration, conservation, science, renewable energy, or another verifiable good?
Status: Active research
06 · The Generators
The Generators are part of the experiment. They explore whether digital artworks can create intention, participation, connection, awareness, action, or other positive outcomes while the studio simultaneously investigates and reduces the environmental cost of making and maintaining them.
Research question: What positive effect does each Generator intend to create, and what part of that effect can honestly be observed, documented, or measured?
Status: Active artistic experiment
07 · Art + technology collaborators
Work with engineers, artists, researchers, scientists, and institutions to turn Virtual Studio ideas into physical and digital prototypes while testing environmental questions as part of the work.
Potential partner: Eyebeam and other art-and-technology residencies.
Status: Potential partner research
08 · Funding
Seek grants and sponsorship for artistic development, environmental research, prototypes, public documentation, residencies, collaboration, and credible measurement.
Potential partner: Creative Capital and additional climate-art, technology, and research funders.
Status: Potential partner research
Potential → Conversation → Experiment → Measured Result → Change in Practice
This page will be updated as research becomes outreach, outreach becomes collaboration, collaboration produces evidence, and evidence changes how the digital studio operates.
This research has consequences. If I can identify an appropriate pathway toward meaningful good and responsible digital practice, I want to expand the digital studio. If I cannot, I am prepared to substantially rethink it or close it.