Cultural Digital newsletter #157
Cultural Digital
Hello
I went away for a bit, but I'm back now. Today we have endless Aphex Twin, flexing sheds, and art data.
Artyping by Julius Nelson is a book from 1939 about the typewriting equivalent of ASCII art. I highly recommend having a flick through this.
Computers
When Art Meets Algorithm. "How today’s technologies from artificial intelligence to virtual reality are changing the way art is made".
Generating More of My Favorite Aphex Twin Track. Alex Bainter asks "Have you ever heard a song you liked so much you wished it would last forever?".
Can neural networks help us reinterpret history?. Applying image style transfer from one image to another in a collection. I don't know if this is quite reinterpretation, but it's still pretty cool. From a hackathon held by Bristol’s Open Data team.
Digital collections
Solving Art's Data Problem - Part One, Museums. An interview with Neil Stimler that runs through "several examples and potential applications for how users can engage with open access collections content".
Uncovering the global picture of Open GLAM. Douglas McCarthy and Andrea Wallace have been looking at how many cultural heritage institutions make their digital collections available for free reuse.
Unlike a version: the lives of digitised artworks. An AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership. "This project starts from the position that digitised objects are not merely versions of the ‘real thing’ – they have meaning and value in their own right, and significance for sharing, interpretation, connection and inspiration".
Supplejack is a Ruby on Rails platform for managing the harvesting and manipulation of data, typically metadata about collection items. Don't all rush.
Help bring past performances from the British Library’s historic playbills collection to life. Crowdsourcing the digitisation of the collection.
Miscellaneous
The Art of Online Ticketing. The results of "a recent initiative at the Jewish Museum to improve the user experience of online transactions".
The Shed and the art of the flex. "Any new institution has an opportunity to bake a new way of thinking about arts and technology into their organization from the start".
Digital Highlights 2019. The National Museum Directors' Council with a list of things to watch out for.
How the ‘Big Five’ American Orchestras Crawled onto the World Wide Web. This sort of thing is always fun.
Jobs
There are digital-related jobs available at the National Lottery Heritage Fund (HLF to you and me), English National Ballet, and Arts University Bournemouth.
Jolly good. That'll do.
Chris Unitt