Page 52 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2014

AC/E digital culture ANNUAL REPORT 2014strange to see someone on the Metro watching a TED conference or ‘attending’ a concert via streaming whilst enjoying a day out in the countryside. It might sound futuristic, but we already know that it isn’t.The second pillar is the creation of digital spaces for conversation, interchange, and interaction between users, brands, institutions and so on as places in which opinions, about the cultural sphere amongst others, are gathered and published. Some experts call them “village squares”, places where people come together spontaneously to talk about matters worldly and divine.In this article we will review some of the technological opportunities that are giving shape to this new context, where the cultural sector also resides, and whose aim is the marketing and consumption of cultural content.We will consider who the new consumers of cultural content and experiences are, and how they go about it. All these interrelated questions and considerations provide a view of how, within the context of the cultural industries, it is becoming necessary to evolve and to take the initiative so as to adapt the cultural offerings, their content and the experience of them to the new model of entertainment that we are witnessing.If people participate in cultural activities, in any of their expressions, as moments of leisure and relaxation, we must also recognise that we are immersed in a society in which the provision of entertainment is growing considerably.The decision to read a book, go to the theatre, to watch a play or go to see an exhibition is in direct competition with other alternatives such as watching a film, playing with a video console or browsing the Net with no particular aim in mind. The number of different options available obliges the actors who form part of the process of cultural creation to be more innovative and creative than ever before and to differentiate themselves from, and adapt to, the requirements of ever more demanding cultural consumers if they are to succeed in attracting their attention.On the other hand, neither is it a question of suddenly making everything digital, of converting everything into bits without previous consideration, but rather of understanding each content, each experience and reflecting on the value “the digital” provides in this cultural content, this experience and of placing it in a current context so that participation and consumption are completely natural, something that forms part of daily life.The economist, frequent contributor to The New York Times and three times winner of the PulitzerAppearing underthese platformsare communitiesconsisting ofthousands, ormillions, ofmembers whoare connectedand mobilised by a topic of interest. They are the people who can, in the last instance and because of their prescriptive power, say what you should read, see and listen to.The cultural sector can not avert its view from all these changes. Users have changed their habits, their expectations and their behaviour with regard to the consumption of cultural content and so cultural institutions and organisations must also adjust to the connected workings of the Net. Many have already done so, and they are important beacons for those who are still doubting.Taking advantage of this digital setting to reach the public does not simply mean advertising cultural events through a newsletter or creating a Facebook page—which would, perhaps, soon not be kept up to date—but improving people’s cultural experiences outside the Net as well (on/off integration) and disseminating cultural content through the various formats that people use on a daily basis via the Net (tweets, instagram photos, pinboards on Pinterest, etc.).AC/E Cultural organisations need to consider and adapt to changes in the way cultural content is consumed on the InternetWHERE WE ARE HEADING: DIGITAL TRENDS IN THE WORLD OF CULTURETHEME 5: CULTURAL SECTOR MARKETING AND CONSUMPTION THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYCURRENT PAGE...52