Colonialism has consistently been a force in the global purview, including the technological space. In recent years, the expansion of artificial intelligence has vastly increased corporations’ global influence. As the world’s technologies continue to advance and innovate, individuals must keep a watchful eye on the ways in which digital colonialism might repeat harmful practices from the past.
Due to the popularity and booming business of video games, Hollywood studios have capitalized on popular game titles by developing new content based off of their intellectual property (IP). This study sets out to better understand video game IP’s impact on film and television markets and what specific elements might impact an adaptation’s success.
Sustainability and AI were at the forefront this year at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Future of Museums Summit. What role will museums play in creating climate-friendly communities? And how can AI be used to maximize efficiency, increase accessibility, and deepen engagement? Read key conference takeaways from Xueer Ho and Dr. Brett Ashley Crawford.
An overemphasis on data-driven work within the nonprofit sector has been shown to result in cycles of disempowerment, driven by third-party data demands of funding bodies.. This compounds due to the many market orientations nonprofits need to adopt, particularly prevalent among the arts. A key to navigating these markets and funder requirements lies in identifying a specific data culture best fit for your organization and investing in resources and training in order to achieve that framework sustainably.
With AI’s ability to automatically produce content and process complicated datasets with high accuracy, museums worldwide are exploring ways in which this innovative technology can help them better achieve their missions and advance accessibility efforts. Through case studies, learn about three applications of this technology: content digitalization, language accessibility, and visual description.
TechCrunch has a really interesting piece by Ryan Carson about building a Web application in just four days. Naturally, arts organizations don't have the human resources and $10,000 to throw around, but the read really drives home how quickly new apps can be deployed given current technologies.
The result of Carson's team's efforts is Matt (Multi account twitter tweeting). Useful? Maybe. Beside the point? Absolutely.
Remember those essays you had to write in elementary school - e.g. "What I did for summer vacation"? That's sort of what this post feels like since Brad chastised me for being remiss in my blogging duties. Of course, I fired him - again. I do that a lot. It just never seems to stick.
AFTA held this year's convention in Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love (and sisterly affection). The hotel sold out long before I climbed out of my procrastination long enough to book a room. Thankfully, I found a room at a nearby hotel - directly across the street from where they were filming Transformers 2. If only I hadn't gotten bored and walked out of Transformers, then I might have been more starry eyed.
After three days in Philly with Americans for the Arts, I return to the Burgh with three essential take-aways:
1. Affirmation -- In a recent (soon to be published) environmental scan of the arts community conducted by Americans for the Arts, it has been determined that, "The influence of technology, unconstrained access, and the new immediacy of communication on traditional and new and evolving production/delivery mechanisms is not yet entirely understood." While the influence of technology on production/delivery may not be fully understood, the impact of technology on the arts community has been seismic. Between AFTA and the NPAC conventions this month, I come back to the Burgh knowing that our Technology in the Arts conference, blog, podcast, and site resources are truly useful tools for the field to assist them in navigating unfamiliar terrain.
2. Futurists Rock - The Keynote Address was given by futurist Andrew Zolli, founder of Z+ Partners and organizer of the PopTech conference, in the manner that I've yearned for at all of the conferences I have attended throughout my professional life: highly engaging, provocative and witty. He touched on a multitude of issues - from innovation and "the tyranny of choice" to experiential economics, "the Long Tail" and "Citizen Brand." I think it was the first time that I went to a conference where the keynote speaker talked for 45 minutes, and I wanted to hear more! For those of you who were not able to attend AFTA this year (or for those of you who just want to hear more of what Andrew has to say), check out these video clips on YouTube.
3. The RenGen is Here - On Friday, I had the pleasure of listening to Patricia Martin talk about the premise behind her book RenGen: Renaissance Generation - The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business. Here's a brief bit from Patricia about the event that inspired her to do the research for this book:
I tried to run out to the AFTA bookstore to buy RenGen - but of course, it was already gone. Amazon, here I come!
My two favorite concepts that she talked about during her session are:
Okay, folks, I have blogged enough today to keep the Brad at bay. I pinkie-swear to do better!
Many arts organization Web sites offer users the opportunity to contribute to their online programming in some way, but it's typically an artificial engagement practice. Rarely do users ever offer up anything truly artistic, and it's even rarer still for the organization to showcase the work in a meaningful way. However, the Brooklyn Museum is taking the idea of "you" as the online curator to a new level and letting Web visitors select the pieces for an upcoming exhibit in its physical space. Its upcoming photography show Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibit lets users register and adjudicate work that was accepted as part of a March 2008 open call. The submitting photographers were asked to "consider Brooklyn's transformation over the years, its past and its present, and submit a photograph that captured the 'changing face(s) of Brooklyn.'"
Now that the call for submissions has closed, the Museum has launched a Web interface that walks users through the registration and evaluation process. Rather than just showing images and asking users to vote for their favorites, though, the Brooklyn Museum offers evaluation guidelines. This is a real exhibit, and the Museum wants thoughtful consideration from its curators.
The Click! curator interface presents the image, its title and a description. Clicking the "Viewing Size" functions will increase or decrease the image size for those who wish to adjust for their screen resolutions or who wish to scrutinize the photo's detail. Users can also see thumbnails of the next images to be evaluated.
When the "curator" is ready to evaluate an image, he or she needs only to adjust the evaluation slider between "Most Effective" and "Least Effective" based on two questions presented by the Museum:
"Curators" have until May 23, 2008, to submit their evaluations, and the exhibit will run from June 27-August 10, 2008, at the Brooklyn Museum.
While it's true that the crowd-curated approach doesn't work for all types of exhibits, the Brooklyn Museum has chosen a medium and theme that works well with an audience evaluation process. They ask about "technique and aesthetic," but the primary question is about Brooklyn's transformation.
So I guess my questions are:
I'd be most interested to hear what formally educated curators have to say about the crowd-curated concept.
A documentary by Dutch filmmaker IJsbrand van Veelenhat premiered recently at the Next Web conference has been posted on YouTube. Clocking in at about 45 minutes, it's not a quick clip, but it's definitely worth your time.
Maybe we do get some extras out of the deal, too! A piece I just saw in today's NYT describes new research that suggests musicians (specifically conductors) are able to simultaneously process sound and sight more effectively than the average person. So there ya go. The benefit of art is art. And the benefit of training musically is heightened senses. (Who woulda thought?)
[Writers note: apologies are given in advance for the blatant lack of technology talk in this post.] A couple weeks ago, I was a panelist at an Americans for the Arts "Creative Conversation" here in San Francisco. We were hosted at the lovely Brava Theater Company in the Mission. A group of passionate arts administrators, we sat in a circle on the stage and discussed a wide range of topics including collaboration, community engagement, grass roots initiatives, lobbying and activism.
And, of course, we discussed obtaining funding for the arts. How do you make a compelling case? How do you get people on board? How do you educate folks about your programming? And, inevitably... the question that is always raised when we talk about raising money for our field: what are the ACTUAL benefits of the arts?
Lately I’ve been experimenting with Ableton’s Live software, which allows me to create interesting arrangements, construct new pieces from scratch, and generally play with music. Live lets me lay down every single layer within a track… by myself… fast… with thousands of different sounds at my disposal. It’s fantastic. Best of all, the anal retentive freak in me is able to go back and revise music I record to make sure that in the “saved” version of the piece, I hit the note smack dab at the beginning of the third thirty-second of the beat, rather than the hairs-breadth off that I actually played. Far from weaning me off traditional music making, Live has deepened my respect and love for the craft of artistry. I find that when I’m fiddling around with the digital manifestation of the music, trying to bring down the volume on the pedal point tones, or simply arrange the notes into a harmonic minor scale with just the mouse, I’m incredibly impatient with a task that should just HAPPEN under my finger tips.
Don’t get me wrong. Technology is wonderful. With Photoshop I can manipulate my images without investing in a full dark-room setup. With Illustrator I can create versatile graphics that can be used just about anywhere. With Live I can be an entire orchestra without leaving my home. And technology is especially wonderful when it enhances rather than detracts from art. When it allows me to do things that aren’t otherwise feasible. When it lets me experience things I can’t normally access.
Like the use of technology in Lois Greenfield and the Australian Dance Theater’s new performance, Held. For this work, Greenfield photographs the dancers mid-movement and the images are instantly projected onto a screen. This is a perfect exemplification of the Technology in the Service of Art principle. Greenfield notes in the Telegraph that in these images “you are seeing something you couldn't without the benefit of the photograph. I capture 1/2,000th of a second and our brains can't register that. But we can see it on a picture."
Held uses technology to intensify our ability to cherish and appreciate the craft of the artists. It’s a beautiful marriage of media because it respects the strengths and limitations of every component involved, from the camera to the artists to the audience.
In our Strategic Planning class last night, our professor and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Larry Tamburri, made mention of the current trend to link art with entertainment. On city websites and in tourist guides, "Arts & Entertainment" abounds- correlating performance and visual arts spaces with movies, bowling alleys and roller rinks. While these sectors, along with sports, are competitive for the use of our leisure time, one has to ponder whether the arts is becoming diluted or just marginalized by efficient marketing. This discussion, however, becomes completely moot as a whole new space and concept has presented itself in Winston-Salem, NC.
It's mildly disturbing and yet I can't help to acknowledge that it might just be another form of corporate sponsorship. There is also the chance that it was just a clause of the negotiation that allowed Wal-Mart to set up shop there.
A true test would be to see if the sculptures are "Public Art" or "Art in a Public Space." Without having a good picture to make reference, I would be really interested to see if Wal-Mart finally designed a building that reflected the community architecture, and by extension, contracted a sculpture that reflected its environs. �
As the shelf life of “new” continues to be defined by smaller and smaller time increments, how do we as arts administrators help artists to do their jobs – ask the timeless questions – in a timely fashion? I’m a big fan of John Seabrook’s 2001 book NoBrow: the Culture of Marketing and the Marketing of Culture, a series of essays that illustrate how these two phenomena work in contemporary American society. In one essay, Seabrook compares his own life to that of his father’s, noting the evolution of high-brow/low-brow distinctions are made through clothes: his father had a suit for every occasion, whereas “a Chemical Brothers T-shirt will get me further in many places than my father’s suit.”
One implication of Seabrook’s message is that in order to communicate effectively in a time when identity is defined by taste, arts organizations must realize that an artist’s message will be read in the specific context of a highly customized, consumption-driven life. People filter “high art” messages through the same lens they use to see billboards, print advertising, television commercials, product placements, movie trailers, product jingles…
What tools can we use to deliver artists’ content quickly and effectively? What role do we play in making sure their voices are heard clearly, and on time (particularly on a day like today)? How do we “buy in” to all the exciting two-way communication technology tools available to us now without “selling out”?
Conference presenter Erika Block shared this video during her session, which examines the future of media and information and a forecast of changes at Google, Amazon, and The New York Times.
