Cultural Digital newsletter #92
Cultural Digital
Hello
This week is all about surveys, five things, salaries, and… well, all sorts of other things. There's a lot of stuff out there at the moment and to be honest I'm still playing catch-up. Anyway, we should get on with it.
I'm pretty convinced this is some sort of magical witchcraft. Zach Lieberman recording sound in space and then playing it back by moving through it. Imagine how this sort of thing could be used.
The latest Digital Culture: 2017 survey results are out with "responses from over 1,400 arts and cultural organisations on how they use digital technology to support their work, what impact it brings, and the barriers to and conditions necessary to achieve their digital aims". This is a UK thing.
There's a Data Portal for digging through the results, and Nesta have pulled together five findings from the Digital Culture survey 2017:
Organisations do fewer digital activities, but are more confident about what works for them
Digital is now important for business models, but organisations may lack the skills to capitalise
Digitally-enabled audience development is on the rise
However, the potential of data remains under-exploited
Experimentation is less widespread
While we're at it, here are five takeaways on how museums are adapting to digital age demands from the Knight Foundation, who have been funding some things in this area lately.
Museums + Digital Salary Study. Something to fill out if you work in a museum. The blurb says "Let’s be honest, most of us know we are underpaid" so hopefully this won't just be inward looking. A comparison with salaries for digital roles across other sectors could be handy.
What is the future of digital in the arts? An interview with Chris Unitt. Yeah, that's me. Following on from the point on salaries, one of the questions in this was "What are some common mistakes that arts and cultural organisations often make with digital?" There's plenty to pick from, but I went with "underinvestment, both in terms of people and infrastructure".
Museums doing digital and museums doing good — can we forge a connection? I mentioned before that Culture24 are looking at this issue for their next Let's Get Real project. This article gives some background and sets out the initial thinking.
Selfie Factories: The Rise of the Made-for-Instagram Museum. "while maybe the goal of the Museum of Ice Cream really is bigger than Instagram alone, there is no denying that social media plays a major role in its success".
Turn your marketing upside down: True customer relationship management. A few thoughts from Baker Richards and Birmingham Hippodrome on custom relationship management (as a process) vs CRM (as a tool).
CreativeXR is a programme from Arts Council England and Digital Catapult that "gives creative talent the opportunity to experiment with immersive technologies to create new experiences that inspire audiences".
The V&A's digital team are running a two-day course in October called Getting the Most from Digital Media.
Removing Friction In UX: Last-Minute Travel Planning And Activity Booking (A Case Study). Lots of relevant things in this case study. The bits about mobile usability and the obsession with page speed are worth noting.
Jobs
There are digital-related jobs available at Christie's, Kew Gardens, and Westminster Abbey.
As ever, please share the good stuff with others and convince everyone you know to sign up too.
Until next week.
Chris Unitt
When not writing emails like this, I run a digital analytics and user research consultancy called One Further, working with some truly excellent cultural organisations.