I’m in the video above, but I’m not posting it for purely narcissistic reasons (after all, I have a fair claim to be the least awesome person in it). I noticed that it was posted on the YouTube channel of the band Hadouken. Then I saw this on Reddit:
I play guitar in hadouken so I use our tracks for these videos as a way of introducing the band to new people 🙂
So essentially this is a band ripping off footage to make a YouTube-friendly ‘music video’. I find that fascinating. What’s more, 22m views and counting says that it could be a worthwhile tactic.
Arts / digital links
The other month I mentioned something about some presentations I’d bookmarked. I’d recommend taking a look at:
- Cut Through the Fog: How to Act on Your Museum’s Website Data
- The Realities of Moving to Digital First
- Tate’s Digital Strategy: The Times They Are A-Changin’
iSay is a two-year network funded by AHRC under the Digital Transformations in the Arts and Humanities theme. It’s looking at visitor-generated content in heritage institutions. And on a digital humanities tip, a meet-up in New York for folks interested in Data Visualization for Performing Arts & Cinema. Oh, and Bamboo DiRT.
Devoted & Disgruntled 8 happened, with write-ups from the sessions now on the website. of those, What is the best use of new technology on the stage? includes some nice examples and Paying 3 times asked whether crowdfunding is an offensive idea (I’d say ‘no, not at all’, but it’s an interesting idea).
VirtualArtsTV have announced WiredArts Fest, a live-streamed theatre, dance and music festival on 19 Feb with the promise of live chat discussions (via Twitter and Facebook) while the performance is happening.
Speaking of which, I’ve nothing against the idea or artists live-streaming their shows, but I really hope the #couchtour phrase/hashtag used in this article doesn’t catch on.
And Diablo Ballet are doing a Web Ballet which they’re billing as “the first dance work developed from suggestions made on the internet”. It’ll premiere in March.
There was a piece on crowdfunding by French cultural institutions in the New York Times that threw up some interesting links. The Louvre are crowdfunding a future acquisition via a website that makes me all sorts of angry. The first stage of renovating The Pantheon’s roof has been crowdfunded too, this time using a Kickstarter clone called My Major Company.
In cultural app land:
- The Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall iOS app. I’m a fan of their website, but found the navigation on this a tad confusing. Their relationship with Sony is worth noting, by the way.
- Cleveland Museum of Art has a new iPad app and a 40ft interactive display wall. Not that size is everything.
- ArtsAdmin’s e-digest is now available in app form.
- London Calling now have a what’s on iOS app, although it seems a bit limited at the moment and the constant directions to use the search did my head in.
I’m not sure why I always highlight these kinds of apps. I always forget about them 5mins after downloading them. Morbid fascination, maybe.
There’s a Cultural PR Conference at the Tower of London on 14 Feb 2013. Bar the @CulturalPRconf Twitter account, I can’t find much info about it anywhere. I find that odd.
Other links
There were a couple of late entries for worthwhile end-of-year posts. Best of Quora 2010-2012 contains some interestingness and Ashley Friedlein’s digital marketing and ecommerce trends for 2013 was better than most. Lots around finding/retaining talent with some good stuff on advertising, analytics, content marketing and the importance of email and SEO.
I like The Setup a lot but this one from a coding chef really stood out.
There’s probably something in this list of Dropbox tips and resources that you’ll find useful. Here are some more quick links:
- SaaS Metrics 2.0 – A Guide to Measuring and Improving what Matters
- Slides from Etsy’s Dan McKinley, presenting on how they test on their platform and the difference between launching a major project and building a bit at a time
- Some rules for making games
- I’ve been meaning to go through the nominees for the Digital Analytics Association’s Awards for Excellence 2013 to see who’s got a good blog
I was fascinated by a post on Econsultancy with Pitney Bowes talking about segmentation, trends, and data. Not for the meat of the article, but for the intro:
Competitors like Kodak went bust and Xerox nearly filed Chapter 11, but Pitney Bowes sought to evolve with the times by adding a robust suite of digital marketing products for B2B clientele intent on reaching audiences through email, social, and mobile channels.
Which made me think that although I can think of plenty of organisations that have adapted to new forms of digital distribution, I can’t think of many that have revamped their core product offering to such an extent.
Internet Users Demand Less Interactivity:
We Just Want To Visit Websites And Look At Them,’ Users Say
Thank you, The Onion.
Apps, services, etc
- Web: Tinypass, Trip Tern, freethroww
- iOS: 1 Second Everyday, Vine, Airbnb, New Relic, Rivr
- Chrome: Hola Unblocker
- WordPress: Wordfence Security
Finally…
I really like Radiolab and the video below is like meta-Radiolab. It’s host/creator Jad Abumrad talking about how the show came about and how it feels to try doing something that takes you far out of your comfort zone.