Hello and welcome to the Digital Snapshot, bringing you all the latest digital news, inspiration, tips and guidance for the arts, culture, museums and heritage world.
Here's your obligatory "can't believe it's September already!" message. Myself and a few friends are off to Wales next week to do some hiking and we're planning on climbing Cadair Idris. I've climbed about five mountains over the years and every time I've been greeted with mist and fog at the top. Here's hoping I'll get a view or two this time round and if I do, I'll try to get a nice photo from the top ready for October's issue.
In digital news, a lot has happened over the last month - from X being banned in Brazil to Disney trying to wriggle their way out of a suit over the death of a person at one of their parks because they'd previously agreed to the Disney+ terms of service. Very 'Black Mirror' and it's all below.
📰 Latest news
- Last month Disney lawyers attempted to argue that the Disney+ terms of service would prevent an allergy death lawsuit. Thankfully they withdrew the claim after the severe backlash, but the fact that they tried it in the first place is concerning.
- X has been banned in Brazil, with many users flocking to Bluesky as an alternative to the platform. Apparently the platform grew by 2.6 million users, with 85% of them coming from Brazil. A potential insight into where audiences may flock should a mass eXodus occur.
- We've recently published a new article with our partners at HdK, looking at website users' journeys when analysed through the lens of Audience Spectrum - our audience segmentation tool. We talk about journey mapping and segmentation at TAA a lot, and as online personalisation techniques and tools have taken some exciting developments in recent years, we're looking to see how we can support this work and those undertaking it. We'll also be involved in an online webinar with HdK later this month exploring the topic further.
🤓 Useful / shareable
- This is a great article by Rob Cawston, Director of Digital and Service Transformation at the National Library of Scotland, focusing on how they are approaching AI.
- The European Theatre Lab is Europe's first think tank devoted to researching a digital strategy for theatre. They've got lots of tools and resources and they run OpenLabs and conferences - worth checking out.
- Art Council England has launched a new fully digital export licensing system, which offers a new digital portal to apply for and issue export licences for works of art/objects.
💥 Distracting / entertaining / inspiring
- The brat vs demure trend was pretty big on socials last month and Southbank Centre made a great classical version which went down really well with online audiences. Daniel Alicandro, their Head of Digital Engagement, wrote a great short overview of its success.
- Whilst we're on social trends, the Beamish Museum has had great success with the 'script written by our Gen Z social manager' trend. Currently sitting on 5.4million views. #slay
- I've been following Emma Keith's week notes for the past couple of months. Emma works as the Director of Digital at the National Theatre and she has been sharing insights and experiences through her weekly updates on Substack. Well worth following! Emma was inspired by Neil Williams who is the Executive Director of Technology and Digital Transformation at the BFI and has been doing week notes since last year.
- What is the museum of the future? This is a great look at the National Gallery's digital strategy through a great interview with John Stack, Director of Digital Innovation and Technology.
👍 Something good
- The Museums Computer Group's conference tickets are now on sale and the focus this year is digital audiences. Our very own Anra Kennedy will be speaking at the conference in Birmingham focusing on digital storytelling, who it's really for, and why.
- The Museum of English Rural Life is back at it on X.
- This is an interesting short interview with TikTok personality Francis Bourgeois, known for his passionate trainspotting.
And that’s all for this edition.
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You can find all past editions of the Digital Snapshot here.
