Including...the Museum of Forward Planning's new book, Twitter outages and 2.5D animation explained.
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Digital Snapshot, bringing you all the latest digital news, ideas, tips and guidance for the arts, culture, museums and heritage world.
The persona at the top of today's Digital Snapshot comes courtesy of the Museum of Forward Planning, an imaginary museum which satirises the idiotic, idiosyncratic and frustrating ways in which we work. Buy their new book and you'll find yourself alternately crying, laughing and experiencing mild PTSD. I'm not a shill, I just really enjoyed it.
Latest News
- On Monday 6 March any links and some images on Twitter.com just...stopped working. These outages are going to become more frequent as Twitter's slashed workforce struggle to keep the lights on.
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund have published their ten-year strategy: Heritage 2033. It includes a commitment that digital heritage resources will be open, accessible and discoverable.
- The heat continues to build for TikTok, with the European Parliament banning it on staff devices, following similar decisions by the US Senate and Canadian Parliament.
Useful / bookmarkable
- Ever wondered how the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) actually works? The National Audit Office has published a 25-page overview with probably more information than you'll ever need.
- James Akers from the Digital Culture Network ran a seminar on setting up Google Analytics 4 properly. You can watch it for free on YouTube.
- I did my own free talk on digital marketing essentials - covering SEO, paid ads, organic content, e-newsletters, building an audience and making a plan. Contains 0 swearing and only minimal oversharing of my personal life. Watch it here.
Distracting / entertaining / inspiring
- QR codes are a bit pointless to post on social media because you're on your phone and can't scan them. So it's weird that the prime minister tweeted one. Weirder that it required downloading an app to view it. Weirdest when you see what the QR code actually did.
- A new 'beauty' filter is storming TikTok. The difference is that this one directly changes the pixels of your face (I can't explain it any better than that) rather than just overlaying your face with another one.
- This is a perfect example of an explainer video on 2.5D animation - well-scripted, edited, produced and - crucially - really interesting.
Good Reads
- Social media is dying. We hear this a lot, but I listen when Ed Zitron says it. Basically, some of it is about stupid money-milking schemes, some of it is the stalling of advertising revenue but a lot of it is down to investor obsession with continuous growth rather than true innovation.
And that’s all for this edition. If you come across any interesting or noteworthy content or have any of your own projects to share please send it my way. Don't forget we're here to support you with training, research and consultancy, so please do get in touch. You can find all past editions of the Digital Snapshot here.
You can also post your thoughts on digital and data-related topics to us and a wider community through our Community forum.
You can find me or The Audience Agency on Twitter. See you soon.
Adam Koszary
Head of Digital, The Audience Agency
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In the Digital Snapshot, our Head of Digital Adam Koszary offers a comprehensive round-up of the latest news, innovation and interesting ideas in the world of digital, as relevant to the arts, culture, museums and heritage sectors.