COVID-19 has proven the importance of digital readiness, which allows our daily lives and businesses to continue as usual during unforeseen circumstances. The pandemic has advanced the discussion for a faster expansion of 5G, a new generation of the wireless network that is believed to revolutionize industries and facilitate the new remote work environment. What can the art world expect to gain from adopting this new generation of wireless network and how can it be most efficiently utilized to support the goals of each individual and organization? This research examines the potential implications and caveats of 5G adoption in the arts and cultural industry.

WHAT IS 5G?

5G is the fifth generation of wireless communications technology. Most 5G networks are built on a high band spectrum that can transmit a larger amount of data at a much faster speed than 4G. 5G has greater bandwidth and download speed of up to 10 gigabits per second, which is roughly 100 times faster than the currently available technology. For example, you would be able to download a 1GB file in 1 second.

Beyond the improvement in speed, another big difference between 4G and 5G comes from latency. 5G also offers low latency, which is the time it takes for devices to send and receive information. Latency is already low with 4G, but 5G will be able to make it to close to zero. 5G will be offering 1 millisecond in latency compared to the 200milisecond with 4G right now. This would allow instantaneous, simultaneous communication among wireless internet-connected devices, systems, and people that are using them.

5G will bring higher internet connectivity in devices for individuals and businesses. The network will play an instrumental role in enabling a wide-scale Internet of Things (IoT) network that will allow effective communication among the connected devices. Ericsson stated that 5G will move further from mobile video consumption and higher data speed than were possible with 4G and push forth a rapid digitalization of all industries. Their Consumer Trends 2030 report published last year wrote that 5G will enable a more natural merging of physical and virtual realities and an “internet of senses,” which will generate a demand for products and services spanning all senses. 5G is also expected to create new jobs and boost the economy as the global 5G value chain is expected to enable $13.2 trillion of global economic output, generate $3.6 trillion in economic output, and support 22.3 million jobs in 2035.

HOW WILL 5G IMPACT YOUR ARTS ORGANIZATION?

1. Extended Reality (AR/VR/XR etc.)

Extended reality has been one of the biggest trends in technology for the past few years and is used more actively in museums and art galleries than in performing arts. The desire for digital experiences in cultural activities has been growing most noticeably in science, technology, and natural history museums and art and design museums. Organizations that have already implemented augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) do so in two ways; content specifically built out using an extended reality technology or in the form of an interactive app that is subsidiary to the existing collections and performances. These are made available to serve multiple people or one user at a time either due to technological limitations or strategic choice.

The goals for implementing AR or VR technology range from a better means of engaging the audience to include people who have not been able to visit in person due to various reasons including mobility issues to socioeconomic circumstances. In the current situation where a great majority of the population has no choice but to stay at home social distancing, such technologies could help arts organizations continue to reach the public going beyond a unilateral interaction with a computer screen. Hauser & Wirth opened a virtual reality exhibition last month at their upcoming Menorca location, which they made available online for people to view from their homes using personal VR headsets like Google Cardboards. They are the first to ever use a custom-built virtual reality exhibition modeling tool too.

A wider application of 5G to overall industries could open new possibilities for individual artists and arts organizations to experiment with immersive technologies that could reach anyone at any given time or location with less technical challenges. Low latency is crucial to seamless connection and display of the immersive experience and there is a high likelihood that you will be able to get a consistently strong, faster connection on 5G. It is significantly better at transmitting higher amounts of data, so it is expected to mitigate network congestion.

To create high-quality AR and VR experience, the latency should be kept low enough so that the human brain does not detect the difference between the real and the virtual. A VR network requires a bandwidth of at least 25 Mbps in the early stage, 100 Mbps for the entry-level, 400 Mbps for the advanced level, and 1~2.35 Gbps for an extreme level that allows interactives and smooth play. 5G, with less than 1 millisecond, could make virtual reality work smoothly and reduce the lag between the user’s command in the physical world and the actions that happen inside the virtual world, whether viewed on-site at a museum or home. This could mean that institutions might be able to provide a more lifelike experience or even connect multiple users in the same content with the increased speed and processing of data between devices.  

Of course, all of this comes at a cost as with any other promising new technologies. One of the biggest issues with 5G implementation as of now is the high price set for smart devices that operate with the new network connection and the data plans. The first 5G smartphones have started to emerge earlier this year and the starting prices are reported to be at least 1.5 times more expensive. Also, more than 21 million people in the U.S. lack broadband internet access, and with smaller or less tech-savvy arts institutions that use obsolete operating systems, the new plan might not be as compatible or efficient. It is, therefore, necessary that each organization first assess its digital capacity before undergoing a complete 5G transformation.

2. Big Data

1) Audience Analysis

Arts nonprofits have been growing continuously. As of 2015, there were 40,496 U.S.501(c)(3)s classified within the Arts and Cultural sector with budgets greater than $50,000. The cultural landscape has also been changing with the emergence of the “cultural omnivores,” mostly comprised of Gen Xers and millennials that seek for experiences fitting their different emotions and needs, replacing the values and motivators associated with traditional arts visitors and supporters. This new generation of art goers looks for multi-tonal, multi-sensory, and multi-faceted arts activities that would provide them with something new and unique every time.

With the changing landscape as well as increasing competition for loyalty and donations, the arts and cultural industry also could effectively use big data to gain insights to prepare for the next generation of art lovers and to get their attention. To successfully build participation and develop audiences, organizations must involve the whole organization in audience development and understand audiences to build targeting strategies. This traditionally requires a great deal of time spent on market research on audience interests and behaviors.

However, with 5G empowering an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, organizations would no longer have to undergo a time-consuming process as the smart devices and sensors would be gathering and transmitting real-time data. The traditional indicators of how well an organization is doing – the annual number of audience and the annual revenue – could be enhanced with additional insights on audience behaviors and interests within and without the organization’s doors.

Big data is driven by IoT. The process of analyzing big data goes through acquisition from a data source, pre-processing, transportation, and analysis. With up to 10Gbps data rate and 1,000 times increased bandwidth per unit area, 5G will significantly accelerate data transmission and transport data at a much faster pace from source to analysis centers.

A potential application of this feat in the arts could be visitor journey tracking through installing sensors that can count the number of people that have visited each room within a particular area of a museum or time spent within performing arts spaces. This would allow the management to see which spaces people visited most frequently or spent the longest time in. Alternatively, IoT powered smart devices can be planted next to or on top of artworks to see which works of art or parts or performance are gathering the most attention and the emotional response they generate from the audiences. The latter would be possible with the installation of facial recognition cameras that would capture the visitor’s demographic characteristics including age, sex, and ethnicity to the range of emotions such as joy, rage, sadness, disgust, and so on.

This newly generated data could help the organization build out new metrics to assess how well specific artworks or collections or performances are doing other than from audience numbers, revenue, or occasional survey. It could help the executives, the board and staff to gain insights when planning strategic plans for the future depending on the varying needs and interests of their existing and new visitors. The data from each institution could also be weaved together to create a “shareable megabase” that displays analytics of countless ticket buyers and visitors.

2) Business Operations

Big data gathered from 5G powered IoT can also support the business operation and validate executive decisions with statistical evidence. For instance, the Natural History Museum in London has been maintaining a digital twin, converging information gathered by 15,000 sensors spread across 100,000 square meters of the museum space with operational technology. The data on temperature, humidity, vibration, and light in different departments linked together by digital twin allows the museum staff to quickly identify any problems and ensures the preservation of its collection and building.

A digital twin is one of the many possibilities that will be available with 5G adoption to inform day-to-day operations as well as longer-term strategic planning within an organization. The purpose of a digital twin is to replicate the physical environment in a virtual space so that any change or decision that needs to be made upon the space could be tested online with a guarantee that it will generate the same outcomes as it would in the real, physical space. In other words, the digital twin offers a virtual testbed for administrators to try out new decisions before investing. Such decisions can help the organization to investigate operational problems, decide where to focus the attention, and make the best operational decision to reduce the cost and extend the life of equipment and assets. Additionally, digital twin helps the upkeep and preservation efforts in contingencies where an individual or the entire collection of artwork or space may undergo any damage or destruction.

In daily operations, 5G powered IoT could be used to gather real-time visitor information and deliver smart tours. For instance, The Palace Museum in Beijing, China uses a user mobile application as well as the 3,000 CCTVs dispersed across its estate to help the museum gain heightened security measures, but also acquire a guideline for the museum to recommend visitor-oriented guided tours. The museum is equipped with data-driven analysis on visitor information and can use this information to deliver customizable tours catered to each visitor’s interests or preferences as well as how crowded some areas of the museum might be.

The big question that comes in place with the actual implementation process would be data privacy and security concerns. Organizations also need to be aware of what type of personal data they are collecting and how they are using to support their operations. Starting with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented in 2018 and the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in effect from 2019, nonprofits including the arts organizations are no exception from the inspection on data collection methods and usage. In a 5G world, businesses will naturally have more access to personal information through smart devices actively collecting and analyzing the data they have acquired. Removing data privacy and security concerns will be the challenge for arts businesses in the next decade. With 5G still in its early days, it is hard to determine how the legislation will keep up to prevent misuse of data while still allowing businesses to harness 5G and IoT technologies to their full potential, but maintaining transparency with data collection and use will be pivotal to attaining public trust.

3. Environmental Sustainability

The arts have more often been criticized for being on the opposite end when it comes to sustainable business practices. Arts Council England’s annual environmental report released earlier this year shows that museums generate 41% of the total carbon footprint despite making up only 8% of the total National Portfolio Organizations (NPO).

Some have already started to take action to address climate concerns by installing energy-efficient lighting and controls and trying out sustainable production or exhibition methods. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has laid out in their Green Initiatives stating that the institution is planning to expand direct digital control systems for both energy saving and climate control purposes. There are also organizations such as the Broadway Green Alliance and Julie’s Bicycle that promote eco-friendly practices including recycling sets and energy curtailment programs to reduce carbon footprints in the performing arts industry.

The introduction of 5G and IoT could help expand such sustainability efforts in the arts. Ericsson’s Exponential Climate Action Roadmap highlights how the digital sector including network technologies is estimated to have the potential to directly cut 15% of fossil-fuel emissions and indirectly support a further reduction of 35% by influencing consumers and business decisions and systems transformation by 2030. This is possible as 5G, IoT, and other network technologies can save energy by increasing the precision of data collected and exchanged by the facilities. Combined with AI and machine learning, 5G will open the possibility for mass scale connection of sensors, electric grids, control systems, buildings, industries, and buildings, and enable the efficiency of systems.

Some of the suggested implementation specific to the cultural institutions would be connecting existing devices such as sensors to a smarter network so that they can communicate in real-time and optimize energy efficiency. In this scenario, the existing building of the organization can be transformed into a smart building where a smarter control system would be able to identify where most people are at to reduce unnecessary air conditioning, heating, lighting or other energy use in less populated areas of the building to save utility bills as well as lower carbon emissions.

Of course, increased connectivity is not the ultimate solution to sustainability and there are concerns that IoT may negate the efforts towards a more sustainable business practice. 5G could enable the acceleration of digital platforms, which drives even higher electricity consumption unless the connection is powered by a more efficient or sustainable energy source. With smaller or less tech-powered arts institutions, the new IoT powered by 5G might not be as compatible with their obsolete operating systems and may result in lowered performance. Therefore, it is necessary that each organization first analyze their annual carbon footprint as well as assess its digital capacity and compatibility before adopting the new networking technologies immediately thinking that doing so is the ultimate solution for a sustainable future.

CONCLUSION

The 5G transformation could either be a great equalizer or even worsen the existing digital divide in the arts and cultural industry. It will be providing the industry with boundless insights as well as areas of concern. Addressing the potential implications – both good and bad – of 5G and IoT will continue to be a challenge as the 5G network expands globally. As we advance into this new generation of the wireless network system, it would be necessary for individuals and organizations to consider their current digital readiness and start building the necessary infrastructure to stay current with this technological transformation that will soon be shaping our post-COVID-19-world.

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