So, you want to video something...

I promise I will stop posting links from UK-based arts discussions. I will stop when the content stops becoming so bloody relevant! More goodies today...

Today’s Topic: The production and distribution of video is increasingly accessible and affordable, offering new ways to explore artistic programs and engage audiences. In contrast, broadcast platforms remain off-limits to most art forms and their respective audience interests. In this AoDL salon we will primarily explore how arts organisations can create video for online and mobile platforms. Secondly, we would like to encourage a discussion about how the Public Service Broadcast network might forge relationships with arts organizations as ‘content providers’, thus possibly prizing open an avenue for greater presence (and diversity) within the broadcast arena.

For more read on!

Launching into the digital realm

A new role for me...just call me the Digital Marketing Officer. So now I get a chance to let my flight of fancy go wild! Well I suppose after all the blogging and internal angst as I mulled over all digital things it is only fitting it's my new purpose in life. Officially starting next week I have a long list of things to do in the digital realm. Wish me luck!

A website is not, however, a digital strategy

Via the folks at the ADVICE Project, this article had me at the word 'digital creep'. Here's just a few bits that piqued my interest...

It’s not just about the website – arts organisations should wake up to the wider possibilities of the digital world, says Susi O’Neill.

"I am shaping a holistic map of how it could use digital tools across the organisation: in internal communications, project management, collaboration with trainees and social marketing to improve communication with participants and stakeholders.

We identified existing activities and looked at how to integrate these into a new website that can be accessible to anyone, anywhere, on any device: photos from workshops will be shared on Flickr, a YouTube channel will display documentaries that currently sit on the shelf and mailshots will become blog posts. Website news will be moved onto Twitter, augmenting Threshold’s reach through automated, integrated tools. The new website will position it as a creative curator, exhibiting media in carefully crafted collections. Content hosted on social networking sites will be reintegrated into the main website which acts as a ‘hub’ for activity happening wherever its audiences are. A website is not, however, a digital strategy, and we are considering how to create a community of interest around Threshold’s diverse participants to provide ongoing support.

There’s a fear of the unknown in this realm. We need to form new relationships and create a genuine, meaningful depth of engagement in the online world for both audiences, artists and stakeholders. This is about a culture shift which is both challenging and exciting for the future of Threshold.”

...work stuff I promise!

Not much time today, so only two links I should follow up at some time and actually read in-depth!

The 5 Top Social Media Blog Posts For 2010

SWOT Analysis of Opera - by Stephen Phillips, General Director, State Opera of South Australia

Geek in Residence

Are you an arts organisation looking for a digital helper? OzCo under the Arts Digital Era program is running a 'Geek in Residence' scheme during 2010.

Geek in Residence | artsdigitalera

The Geek in Residence pilot program connects ‘geeks’ (by which we mean technically confident artists and creatively confident technicians) with arts organisations through a temporary subsidised secondment scheme.

The purpose of this fund is for the Australia Council to enable digital artists and technicians to share their skills and experiences with arts workers. Geeks will be able to share their passion for solving unknown technological problems in creative situations, and arts workers will feel better equipped to work in digital spaces.

Are you a Geek? Are you working at an arts organisation in need of a digital innovation (ohhh look at all the hands!) Yes? Well sign up...NOW! The deadline is now 18th December...tick tock.

Re-rite or how to make the most of your orchestra...

I haven't had a chance to really have a look at the 'Re-rite' program, but it had me at the clever pun, and a post by Stephen Smoliar

re-rite is a new experiment by the British Philharmonia Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. It tries to confront the problem that most concert-goers not only are passive but also lack any sense of how they can actively engage through listening. re-rite tries to solve this problem by turning a recorded performance into an activity space.

Here's a bit more...

re-rite, the Philharmonia Orchestra's Digital Residency, will allow members of the public to conduct, play and step inside the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen through audio and video projections of musicians performing Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

Opening to the public at the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank on Tuesday 3 November, the project will show every section of the Orchestra performing The Rite of Spring simultaneously ‘as live’ throughout a four-storey warehouse building. The public will able to sit amongst the horn players, perform in the percussion section and take up the baton and control sections of the Orchestra as they play.

Stephen does a great job of summarising it and linking through to other articles...all I'm going to add is when can we do this with the AOBO?

Image source: http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/re-rite/

Revealing the Arts - Day 2

Well the sessions appeared to sizzle today, we at least from the outside. There were a few flames that caught my fancy along the way.

Bag out the major institutions...

There were a few taunts from the twitter stream about 'us' well funded major performing arts companies and 'our' emergence from the dark ages...speaking the truth?

socialinterior I find this event very focused on the major performing arts and the issues they are having catching up on where everyone else is at #rtarts

A wonderful profound comment from one user about the resistance to open up to new media had me hoping to use a new favourite phrase...

artsdigitalera RT @The_Art_Life: New media world collides with old world art politics of entitlement.#RTArts

Ahhhh the 'politics of entitlement' that would make a wonderful PhD chapter I'm sure.

Whose Right is it anyway?

It seems rights management was a huge issue...I won't pull out some of the quotable quotes but again, here is us (them?) squabbling about who owns and who profits when all audiences want to do is engage? Surely everyone can see that?

Lessons Learned?

But the big fun of the day was some of the er, comments that heated up the Twitterverse when the Aussie Cosi presentation began. A summary of the presentation can be found here.

Snarky comments...there were a few...

socialinterior The Australian Opera discovers social networks#rtarts

commuter_dirge @aussiecosi has 88 following, 54 followers, and 91 tweets. Hardly a roaring success...#RTArts

commuter_dirge twitalyzer score for @aussiecosi:http://tr.im/Db2n: "0.3 influence" "0.0% generosity" "0.7% clout" (now I'm just being mean) #RTArts

unsungsongs . @commuter_dirge and 66 facebook firends. That's a #fail surely?#RTArts

commuter_dirge @fireinthesouth well, that's you're brand, just as@AussieCosi is a branded account. It's really not a great case study. #RTArts

unsungsongs I am extremely curious about whether those involved in Aussie Cosi see it as a success and how they judge that?#rtarts

mattriviera @aussiecosi What did you learn thru social media feedback you couldn't have gotten thru a survey? Best use of social media? #RTArts

mattriviera @aussiecosi Wouldn't a good way for fan community to engage with the work be for them to appropriate it? To re-interpret it? #RTArts

shoes_off @elliottbledsoe @commuter_dirge true, but showcasing a more active community than cosi would have displayed the scalability of SM #rtarts

commuter_dirge @bimyou_bimyou I'm not talking monetising twitter in and of itself. but you need to show some proof of it working & a correllation #RTArts

dziga @aussiecosi doesn't seem to have a lot of followers #rtarts

revealingarts Katrina Sedgwick: "Messing", "playing", "getting in there", these are the kind of mind frame to approach digital, not "sell tickets" #RTArts

Snarky yes... but justifiably snarky...I leave that to you dear readers. What struck me about the response to the session and the overall experience of watching this conference unfold online was a clear realisation that you can't wait and then be forced into a situation where you have to play catch up. There is nothing wrong with experimentation...and sometimes, that in itself is the way forward until strategy catches up..."Messing", "playing", "getting in there"... I can't wait.

Revealing the Arts

As I sit down today to get back into the swing of essay work about the impacts of digital and new media on museums, across town (well down the street, really) our National Broadcaster and the overseer of our cultural institutions are likewise engaged in conversation about just that.

Are you wondering what’s happening to arts and culture in the new digital world? Where will the money come from? How will we manage rights? Where do we find creative partners? What works and what doesn’t? And what are we leaving the next generation? The Australia Council for the Arts and the ABC invite you to be part of a selected group of strategic thinkers, artists, practitioners and directors who will uncover the opportunities for the arts that the digital era presents.

Today and tomorrow, the ABC and the Australia Council are hosting 'Revealing the Arts: creative conversations and solutions for the digital era'. The program of discussion appears to be covering the current and future role of digital across areas such as a education and opening up access to arts, while tackling 'issues' such as copyright, rights management and commercial opportunities in the digital era.

One thing that has struck me is the inclusion of OA's Chief Executive among the speakers list in a presentation with David Ford on Aussie Cosi entitled 'SHOW ME HOW - Revealing the Creative Opportunities'. As a small initiative that may or may not have reached it's strategic aim (bums on seats? access? sorry was there a strategic aim?) it will indeed be interesting to hear what is said about this project.

The ABC is providing live streaming of the event on both days, so there's no excuse not to watch. You can also follow the blog or the twitter stream (see cultural caretakers can interact with digital media! my bad).

Of perhaps most interest to me is the last session entitled 'Where to from here'. Hopefully by the end of tomorrow we might all know (we can dream can't we?).

And if you need anymore proof it's one to watch, here's another great article in The Age this morning from Marcus Westbury. Marcus takes a slightly different tack and for me, one who has watched a large cultural institution grapple with the impact of the digital...I would say....right on!

there are vital basic assumptions that are rarely questioned: that the culture, the cultural organisations that deliver it, the cultural needs and infrastructure of Australia will remain more or less fixed. Technology is merely about the marketing, the branding, the language, the revenue and the education programs. The idea that the culture itself is changing and evolving is rarely considered. Technology merely changes the hype and the pitch to keep the kids interested.

The ABC has long moved beyond that. The broadcaster has realised that in order to justify its continued existence, it needs to keep questioning and evolving its roles.

I would love to (but I won't) comment on how just the opposite to the ABC approach where a lack of innovation (fostered by a lack of strategic thinking and not helped by having no budget for experimentation) seems to be one of the many blockages at the arts organisation I know intimately.

Well lets just hope that some of those attendees from the large cultural institutions are paying attention over the next few days.

Image source: http://revealingthearts.com/blog/

More from the wonderful world of new media + museums

Dear Diary,

Here's what I learnt about today...(ok here's what one great source taught me!)

Multitouch tables

where more than 1 user can interact with well, an interactive. Like the Museum of Sydney's photo interactives but amped up and er, more NCIS LA like...

Old reports, are still good reports

Here's some more stats about participation and the web...specially 'In the brief history of the internet, the cultural sector has followed two related paths: on the one hand, the digitisation of content and provision of information and, on the other, interactivity and opportunities for expression. Some have seen these as in binary opposition. The truth is that they are inexorably merging. But the big question is where do we go next?' Good question.

There are more and more examples of pre-exhibition museum blogs

The Australian War Memorial has a great one and has used others e.g. Lawrence of Arabia and the Light Horse

Australian Centre for the Moving Image

...is somewhere I should visit next time I'm in Melbourne

Google as an arts organisation

Found through a post by Tim Roberts on Admit 2.0 which was in turn, Tim tells us, passed to him by Vicki Allpress Hill from a presenter she met at the recent Tessitura Conference...aka an example of the wonderful world of people pass on great things...as Tim did I'm posing this in full.

Erik Gensler of Capacity Interactive Inc.

Google is governed by the following: openness, sharing, aggregation and capturing customer data. The more customer data you have the more you learn and the more you can improve. So inspired by Jeff Jarvis' book What Would Google Do?, I thought about the following: If Google were a performing arts organization it would...

...aggregate all critical reviews and share them to help people decide if they want to attend a performance

...survey ticket buyers after each performance and send them to a forum where they could comment on performances they've seen

...allow people to vote on future rep

...put all production designs on line for people to examine and comment upon

...have 100% flexible exchange policies

...video and share rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes footage

...promote all other arts organizations

...encourage all management and artistic leadership to blog

Is your organization doing any of these things?

Why not?

Not quite Marcus...

Ok, just a play on words there, but how fun is this when I can (and very much will) attempt to reference Marcus Westbury in an essay?

Again...more results from just following a flow...ok I admit it I am still catching up on reading Fresh + New(er),,,but apparently series 2 of Marcus Westbury's Not Quite Art series featured an episode on 'DIY Museums' looking at the challenges of cultural institutions in adapting to the digital environment. What's more, the series is available to download online as vodcasts. Awesome! http://www.abc.net.au/tv/notquiteart/

From Fresh + New(er)

What Marcus has done in the DIY Museums episode is look at how ‘memory institutions’ are dealing with the reality that they are no longer the sole arbiters of collective memory; nor are they necessarily well placed to collect the burgeoning diversity of contemporary culture and cultural expression. As one interviewee says “everything now is a niche, just the size of the niche differs” – and this poses enormous problems for those who job it is to collect. Fortunately, the same digital tools of production that are, in part driving this diversity, are also providing the means for others to collect and present – again, another challenge for established institutions.

Government publications for a Monday...

Wow, what an exciting life I must lead when I stumble across an Australian Government website and squee with glee!

Don't mind me, I can just see a line of this report sitting somewhere in my upcoming paper about the role of new media (aka digital technologies) and exhibitions. Surely if the government is advocating it, I mean there is a whole economy to build, it must be important.

The Australian Government released the Australia's Digital Economy: Future Directions paper on 14 July 2009 which outlines:

• why the digital economy is important for Australia
• the current state of digital economy engagement in Australia and why current metrics point to a need for strategic action
• the elements of a successful digital economy
• the role for the Government in developing Australia's digital economy, and
• case studies of Australians who have successfully engaged with the digital economy from a diversity of industries including content, e-health, maps, banking, education, smart technology and citizen journalism.

From little refs big essays grow...Part 2

See I am studying! I promise!

More articles and blogs to come back to related to digital experiences this time sourced from the Collections Australia Network

http://keystone.collectionsaustralia.net/publisher/Outreach/

http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/

The Culture Victoria (CV) website is a space where cultural content from venues across Victoria are brought together to provide an immersive and focused entry point to Victorian collections using rich media. The objectives we set for CV are to: showcase the collections of Victorian cultural organisations; tell stories about Victorian communities and cultural collections; expose behind-the-scenes activities that the public does not usually get to see; and promote visitation to stakeholder websites.

http://keystone.collectionsaustralia.net/publisher/Outreach/?p=2755

Historic Houses and mobile GPS game in Darlinghurst

http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/sector_info_item/102

These are some of the presentations from the Defining Online Exhibitions Seminar.

Have you considered preparing an exhibition for online viewing but don’t know what it entails or where to start? This seminar is your opportunity to learn about developing online exhibitions–the pros, cons, costs and finding the funds. Seven industry experts will discuss all facets of online exhibitions and provide practical advice and case studies.

http://www.acmi.net.au/digitalstorytelling.aspx

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) Digital Storytelling program reflects its philosophy of drawing people closer to the moving image in all its forms and to foster interaction, understanding and a personal connection.

http://keystone.collectionsaustralia.net/publisher/Outreach/?p=2345

National Portrait Gallery online manager Gillian Raymond talks about using digital storytelling in the redesign of the gallery’s website.