Page 117 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2015117discover. As a consequence, data now provides the ‘engine’ for many successful products and services. Some examples include the personalised recommendation systems in websites like Amazon or Twitter, Apple’s personal assistant Siri, Google Search and Translate, and the customised health and financial advice provided by health apps and online banking services.Realising these new opportunities requiresnew skillsets. In the data landscape that I have overviewed, value is created by combining digital technologies (websites, databases anddata products) with large-scale analysis. A new role – the data scientist21 – has emerged in the nexus between these two areas.22 In additionto computing and analytical skills, Data Sci- entists also need to have industry and business knowledge, and the ability to communicate their findings in order to make things happen inside an organisation.Innovations in big data technology are increasing the ease, speed and precision with which data can be used to optimise, segment and discover.Recent research by Nesta23 and other bodies in the UK suggests that people with this profile are very hard to find. Many organisations across the economy are facing analytical skills shortages, and as a response, they are innovating to find, organ- ise and manage this rare talent. I will discuss later what this means for the Arts and Cultural sector. But before doing that, I want to make a case for why the Arts and Culture should pay attention to the data revolution in the first place.Data, Arts and CultureI use the term “Arts and Culture” to refer to those sectors involved in the creation and distribution of artistic and cultural goods, services and experiences, and of creative content. This includes sectors with a strong presence of not-for-profit organisations such as Libraries and Museums (repositories and preservers of culture) and arts and cultural organisations, as well as commercial industries like music and book publishing. How do they fit within the data landscape that I have described above? Is any of this relevant to them?Perhaps a more precise way of asking that question is to consider whether, in their opera- tion, they collect data that they could analyse, and whether that analysis would enable them to act in ways that create value.I think that the answer to those two questions is a resounding yes. I will justify my answers by referring to research24 on digital innovation in the English Arts and Cultural sector undertaken by Nesta in collaboration with the Arts Council England25 and The Arts and Humanities Research Council,26 as well as some innovative examples of the use of data in the sector.Regarding the first question, Arts and Cultural organisations are already involved in activities that enable them to collect many of the types of data I mentioned above:• Website data: 95% of the 895 organisations that Nesta surveyed for its 2014 Digital Culture Report27 have a branded website, and 85% publish content in that website forJuan Mateos García