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.
I'm planning on writing something unpacking what 'hybrid' means - as it seems to have become a catch-all term for user journeys, extended reality, online streaming and sellotaping QR codes to the wall. If you're doing research or work in understanding digital behaviour of audiences or 'hybrid' experiences I'd be interested in chatting - just email me here.
Latest News
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As this newsletter goes to press there's a reshuffle going on in the UK government, with a rumoured new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology which will take a chunk of the digital remit of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
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Twitter's most recent twist in its death spiral is charging for access to its API, potentially affecting free scheduling services and condemning thousands of fun, cool and informative bots which depend upon the API to death. Except this one.
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Congratulations to everyone long and short-listed in the Digital Culture Network Awards - you can attend the livestream of the results on Wednesday 29 March by booking here.
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Meta's been having a hard time recently, but their stock is recovering after announcing growth to 3.7bn monthly users and prioritisation of artificial intelligence over the metaverse. Expect them to beef up advertising and take on TikTok in 2023.
Useful / bookmarkable
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Have there been many negative consequences of open licensing for cultural content? The replies and quote-tweets to this question from Thomas Flynn suggest 'not really', but there are exceptions.
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Where are Gen Z spending their time online? You won't be surprised to know it's primarily YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. The days of Zombo.com's dominance are over.
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Zaria Parvez is the brains behind Duolingo's viral social media and she's breaking down their approach on LinkedIn - starting by countering the claim they have no strategy. The post includes my favourite line, "Gen-Z wants to be entertained, not sold to".
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We have a load of new case studies from the British Council's Digital Collaboration Fund, including a 3D recreation of a destroyed cave sacred to the Wauja people, Telegram tours in Venezuela and digitally connecting semi-broad loom weavers in Ghana.
Distracting / entertaining / inspiring
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The US National Park Service are a case study of pithy, absurdist Twitter content.
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Tell me you're a social media manager on a small budget without telling me you're a social media manager on a small budget.
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I really enjoyed this breakdown of how they make those 3D screen adverts in Piccadilly Circus (and elsewhere). Spoiler: it's essentially the same thing as that skull in Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors.
Good Reads
- I haven't read anything good relating to digital recently, but I did enjoy this article by beer writer David Jesudason on the mental health toll of being the only brown man in a pub and why safe public spaces are so important. It's a good excuse to re-share Wellcome Collection's journalistic approach to articles.
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 do 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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The Digital Snapshot newsletter shares the latest, most important news from the social media and digital world - as relevant to the arts, culture and heritage sectors.
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