Digital Works Podcast

A conversation with Dr Brett Ashley Crawford and Paul Hansen. Their new book (Raising the Curtain. Technology Success Stories from Performing Arts Leaders and Artists) looks at how performing arts organisations and artists are successfully using technology in a variety of different contexts.

We talked about how the pandemic became a catalyst for innovation, we look at examples of organisations that have embedded technology across all their work. We discussed how digital transformation is not just about adopting new tools, but rather a revolution in connecting with audiences and empowering artists.

Brett and Paul share lots of specific, tangible examples of organisations that have successfully adopted new, more digitally-enabled ways of working across a huge diversity of areas. They also share their insights and observations about the common traits of organisations that enjoy the most success with adopting and executing these new ways of thinking and working.

You can find more info about the book, and order a copy, on the Wiley website.

Dr Brett Ashley Crawford is an Associate Teaching Professor of Arts Management at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and is the Faculty Chair of the Masters of Arts and Entertainment Management Programmes.

Paul Hansen is a marketing, creative and PR consultant, primarily working with the performing arts. As marketing director for Dance Kaleidoscope, a medium-sized company in Indianapolis, Paul navigated the challenges of using technology in new ways for nearly 12 years. 

Raising the Curtain was published by Wiley in March 2024.

I chatted with Hilary Knight, Seb Chan, and Aled John to hear a bit more about what they'll be talking about at this month's Digital Works Conference as well as what they're looking forward to.

We looked at the potential of informal networking, discussing how tea break chats can lead to new ideas and fortify the cultural community. The lessons that the Financial Times' strategic pivot to digital could hold for the cultural sector, and the value of international collaboration and discussion.

In this episode Ash chats to Michal Čudrnák Head of Digital Collections & Services at the Slovak National Gallery.

We talk about the history of the gallery, and how the Digital team has grown and evolved over recent years. We talk about the interesting and somewhat unique role that the Slovak National Gallery plays in supporting the wider Slovak cultural sector with digital tools and expertise. We look at the role of digital in supporting in-person attendance, and how designing for this context is very different from 'fully remote' experiences. 

Michal explains of the different ways that his team works with other organisations, on collaborative projects with the cultural sector in Slovakia and further afield, and we explore some examples of public-private relationships that they are exploring.

You can see some of the work that Michal and his team have delivered:

• The SNG website: https://sng.sk/
• The Atlas product: https://atlas.sng.sk/
• The Web Umenia (Web of Art) product: https://www.webumenia.sk/

The seventh in our new series, Bytes, where Ash and Katie discuss 3 things from the latest Digital Works Newsletter.

In this episode we'll be discussing some of the links in the newsletter that went out on February 26th.

We talk about:

• The launch of OpenAI's new text-to-video product, Sora. The apparent meltdown that ChatGPT had last week, and the BBC's AI Principles
• We also talk about YouTube CEO Neal Mohan's predictions for 2024
• And last but not least we'll look at an article in Engadget about the Browser Company's new product, titled "Who makes money when AI reads the internet for us?"

I realise that's more than three things, but broadly it's AI news, YouTube predictions, and considerations about how the web is monetised.

You can sign up for the newsletter at thedigital.works.

A great conversation about immersive experiences with VIVE Arts' Head of Programme, Samantha King.

We talked about a LOT including: the conditions required for new ways of thinking and working to take root; the importance of sharing knowledge and collaboration; the operational and financial realities of creating immersive work.

We returned to a long-running topic, namely how useful the word 'digital' actually is. Sam pointed to the importance of leadership buy-in (or at least an active curiosity about what might be possible). We looked at the importance of having people who are able to interpret between traditional cultural practitioners and technologists (something that I've discussed on previous podcast episodes with Annette Mees, and Eva Liparova)

And, helpfully, Sam cited a number of specific institutions and projects that might be useful reference points as inspiration.

Related links:

• VIVE Arts website
• VIVE Arts and Musée d'Orsay collaboration
• Digital Works Podcast Episode 023 with Annette Mees about creating an opera in hyper-reality
• Digital Works Podcast Episode 018 with Eva Liparova about working with remote creative teams, and the translation required between creative technologists and traditional cultural practitioners

The sixth in our new series, Bytes, where Ash and Katie discuss 3 things from the latest Digital Works Newsletter.

In this episode we'll be discussing some of the links in the newsletter that went out on January 29th.

We talk about:

• Hugh Wallace asking 'is it time to shake up your social media', the Association of Cultural Enterprises leaving X, and X being flooded with offensive AI fakes of Taylor Swift (the AI assistant in our podcast platform wanted to title this episode "Explore the ethical battlefield of digital platforms" which I think neatly sums up the tone of our discussion!).
• The work the National Gallery is doing on social media (particularly on Threads and Tiktok) and why it's working.
• A great long read about the failed collaboration between immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk, and games company, Niantic.

You can sign up for the newsletter at thedigital.works.

We catch up with Sydney Opera House's Head of Screen, Stuart Buchanan. 

We talk about Stuart's new job title, how digital teams are structured at SOH, and the unhelpfully vague nature of the word 'digital'. 

Stuart shares how digital artistic programmes have enabled the Sydney Opera House to work with new artists, in new ways. 

The issues and challenges around rights, and reaching agreements with artists (and the value of having a track record that you can point to in these conversations).

We discuss the many experimental strands to the work of Stuart's team, and the potential uses of generative AI in that context.

And lots more!

Our last episode of 2023 is a conversation with Haydn Corrodus. Haydn is a social media and digital marketing consultant who was previously an Arts Council England Tech Champion as part of the Digital Culture Network

Haydn brings rich insights into the fragmented and ever-evolving world of social media, and its potential for storytelling, connecting and engaging with audiences in the cultural sector.

In the last podcast episode of the year, Katie and Ash reflect on 2023 - picking a few of the most notable articles, podcasts, research reports, and new stories of the year.

We discuss digital overload and the impact it's had on our attention spans. Exploring whether our cultural institutions could become havens of focus and relaxation in the blizzard of digital distractions.

We look at the wild frontier of AI technology and its impact on our search engines and content creation. Considering the difficulty of distinguishing between human and algorithm-generated content, we also explore how AI could be our ally in boosting creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. 

Meanwhile,  social media has also undergone massive fragmentation, we discuss the fall of Twitter and the moral implications of who we engage with on these platforms. 

We also gaze into the crystal ball and try to predict what 2024 might hold for us.

We discussed:

• New York Times - "Beyond the ‘Matrix’ Theory of the Mind"
• National Gallery of Art - "How to Recharge at the National Gallery this Holiday Season"
• Hard Fork podcast - "What's Next for OpenAI, Binance Is Binanceled and AI is Eating the Internet
• Manifesto For Now - Essay #4: AI is faster than you (or can we be more like the turtle)
• Ofcom - Online Nation 2023
• RTS Cambridge Convention 2023 - Speech by Alex Mahon, Chief Executive, Channel 4: Too Much to Watch
• WeAreSocial - Digital 2023
• Bloomberg - The Moral Case For No Longer Engaging With Elon Musk's Twitter

A conversation with Dr Carrie Goucher. Carrie helps people transform meetings and meeting culture. She has redesigned how we meet for the collaborative era, crafting meetings that are honest, focused, supportive and energising. Carrie’s PhD created an evidence-based framework for what underpins meeting success (spoiler alert: it’s not having an agenda) and her research was described as 'game changing for meeting science’.

Links:

• Article: three scaffolds to sharpen any meeting
• Sign up to Carrie's newsletter and get a collaboration idea every Thursday: https://www.fewerfasterbolder.com/frictionfree

Recommended reading:

• Kim Scott, Radical Candour
• Nancy Klein, Time to Think
• Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless, The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures