Cultural Digital #208
Crabs, agencies, AR/VR/meta, and more.
Hello
I’m probably biased, but I’ve always said that the digital agencies that focus on the cultural sector (doing websites, digital ads, and so on) are a really interesting (and often unappreciated) source of knowledge about what’s really going on at the digital coalface.
Sometimes they do or say something interesting, so I’ve included some examples here. There’s also some AR/VR apps and chat, plus the usual uncategorisable bits and bobs.
For Why Not Hand Over a "Shelter" to Hermit Crabs? -Satoyama-, the artist Aki Inamota scanned hermit crabs’ shells and then added urban landscapes, before 3D printing the results.
It’s all about drawing a line between hermit crabs changing their shells and humans with their migratory movements.
Agencies
Ticketing Dreamachine. A case study from Supercool with a good example of how something built for one client can be repurposed for another (handy when time is tight).
Right to reply: "TikTok’s partnership with Ticketmaster benefits only them". SINE's James Dale asks "why would anyone hand over vital first-party data to another company?"
Why you should get rid of your “What’s On” page. A write-up of Ten4’s talk at the AMA Conference “Spoiler alert: the takeaway was not that everyone should immediately and indiscriminately get rid of their website’s What’s On pages”. Okie dokie then.
Introducing: Venues of the Future. From Substrakt: “The cultural sector’s relationship with digital has been radically reshaped over the past two years. So we’ve started thinking about what a new ‘hybrid’ model for organisations might look like by initiating a creative Research and Development project”. Their Digital Works podcast is back for another season too.
AR/VR/meta
Wonderlab AR app. From the Science Museum: "Encourage students to explore science and maths in our everyday world with our augmented reality app". Built by PRELOADED using Niantec's Lightship platform. Here’s their post about it.
Landscapes Reimagined invites you to “explore famous paintings and create your own art in augmented reality. The app brings together artworks from the collections of Tate and Shanghai Museum”.
Metaverse? What Metaverse? Kinda following on from the AR stuff, here’s James Whatley sighing a lot while explaining a few things. “The central premise is simple: the metaverse doesn't exist. The online virtual spaces that people are calling The Metaverse today are either dead and empty 3D spaces OR they're simply video games”.
Le recours aux technologies immersives au service de la médiation muséale et patrimoniale. "Ces dernières interrogations rejoignent un point crucial soulevé par les participant.e.s : l’importance de la familiarisation et de la formation des agents des institutions (agents d’accueil et de surveillance, médiateurs, équipes techniques) à l’égard de ces dispositifs, et dans l’idéal leur association dès l’amont de tels projets". Well, yes.
Other
Or So Ben Thought. A newsletter featuring "Culture, technology and play" from Ben Templeton.
Spencer Museum of Art - 2022 Digital Plan (PDF). Ryan Waggoner, Director of Creative Services says "this public version is just a small overview. The full plan has goals outlined for each priority with action steps, indicators of success, and evaluation methods".
Is the internet redefining cultural participation without us? "The simple answer is: yes […] And honestly, that’s okay" says the Audience Agency's Adam Koszary. Although apparently not so ok that we shouldn't do something about it, and he has suggestions.
AONIA. “A selection of online events, courses and virtual tours from hundreds of arts organisations”. It seems to be built on Vimeo's VHX. It's part listings site, part video-watching destination.
Thanks for reading. Please pass this on to others and share the good stuff.
See you soon