Cultural Digital newsletter #137
Cultural Digital
Hello
I wasn't around the past couple of weeks, but I'm back in the saddle again now. August is always quiet anyway, right?
Bellwoods is a very lovely thing by Matt DesLauriers where you "navigate your kite through endless fields of color and sound, trying to discover new worlds". For best results, have your sound on and hold the mouse button down to go further afield.
Wikipedia on Twitter. "There were over 20 million objects inside the #MuseuNacional. Did you take a photo of any of them? Help us preserve the memories of as many as we can and add them to @wikicommons".
In-gallery tech insights
Data-led design: Using visitor behaviour to inform touchscreen content. National Museums Scotland have been "scoping, story-boarding, commissioning and writing lots of new content which will feature on touchscreens in the galleries. To help us we took a deep dive into the behaviour of our current visitors to understand how we can create the most appealing and interesting stories".
Digital interpretation in our galleries: Discovery kick-off. Bristol Culture have been doing something similar.
Some opportunities
Digital Located Residency. National Theatre Wales are offering "an opportunity for you to conceive, shape and test early ideas that incorporate digital approaches in order to create unique performance worlds".
Digital Project Grants - Paul Mellon Centre. "They are awarded to institutions to help support a curator or research scholar undertaking a digital research project or research which will lead to a digital or online project".
Mu.SA Project MOOC is an online learning thing from the Museum Sector Alliance that aims to "support museum professionals in improving their digital competences, so as to become more productive in the new digital era".
Some digital art
Red Lines by Evan Roth won the Artangel Everywhere open call for an artwork that could be experienced anywhere in the world. "By setting a device in your home or workplace to display this artwork, you share a synchronized viewing experience with people around the world".
Es Devlin: Please Feed the Lions. Coming to Trafalgar Square as part of the London Design Festival. "Overnight on Monday 17 September, a fifth fluorescent red lion will join the pride, facing northwards towards the National Gallery. This new lion will not be silent: it roars poetry, and the words it roars will be chosen by the public. Everyone is invited to “feed the lion”, but this lion only eats words".
Other things
The Tate Uses Wikipedia for Artist Biographies, and I’m OK With It. Apparently there was some sort of imbecilic argument about this.
Make cool stuff with our collections using our API. From Te Papa: "Over the past couple of years a team of tipua rarekē | curious creatures have been mining the deepest recesses of our collections metadata in order to offer it to you for creative use". There are two prototypes - a slow viewing experience, and a 'draw and search' thing.
Why Love Generative Art? Artnome asks the question and provides lots of background reading with nice pictures to look at.
New Mia app blends art, culture, cloak, dagger. "If you sometimes find a visit to an art museum perplexing, just wait: The Minneapolis Institute of Art is about to become a giant puzzle". I do love article openers like that.
Reinventing Museums for the Digital Generation. "Penn Museum Director Julian Siggers talks about how the institution uses digital tools to showcase its treasures to people around the world".
What orchestras need to learn from Airbnb and Apple. This focuses mostly on customer experience, rather than tax evasion, exploitative labour practices, and flouting of regulations. In case you were wondering. Leading us neatly to…
successful distractions "using Disney as a frame of reference when discussing what is possible in the museum space in 2018 is an unhelpful distraction".
prosthetic knowledge — Time to call it a day ... I'm sorry to see this come to an end, but glad it ever existed. I picked up on all sorts of interesting things from this over the years.
Jobs
There are digital-related jobs available at the British Museum, RAF Museum, SOLT, the RSC, National Gallery, the Photographer's Gallery and more.
Before I sign off, I'm speaking at a couple of things over the next few months so might as well give them a plug:
25 Sept, Birmingham: I'll be on a panel talking about "opportunities and obstacles for arts organisations implementing digital technology" at Hello Culture: Remix Day (part of Digital Cities 2018).
5 December, London: I'm doing a couple of analytics/data-related sessions at the Arts Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Day - Future Now.
If you happen to be at either then do say hi.
Otherwise, have a top week, and I'll catch you next time.
Chris Unitt
The Library is a treasure trove of arts/digital info. It's just been updated with new websites, suppliers, and job descriptions. Find out more about The Library.