Hai-Br0w Kulture

Join me for an art project/workshop at Conflux 2009!

2009-09-15T03:00:47Z

If you're not doing anything this Saturday morning at 10am, come join myself and artist An Xiao (@thatwaszen) for our workshop/art project/research project at the Conflux 2009 festival.

The project, E-Dérive: Psychogeography and the Digitial Landscape, will focus on creating

anonymous data visualization "portraits" of the participants' wanderings online, which will then be displayed in an online gallery.

I've always been interested in the way people consume content online and navigate the abundance of information on the internet, but data visualization is a recent obsession I'm just beginning to explore. While I lack the technical skills to craft custom data visualization tools just yet, I am lucky enough to have talented friends. An and I were able to come up with a few crafty hacked solutions using free visualization tools, but interactive designer Kevin Sweeney took this project to a whole other level by offering to build a tool for us.

So, here's what we need from you:

- Your presence

- A wifi-ready laptop

- A week's worth of your browser history (don't worry, the final "portrait" will be anonymous and nobody will know it's you)

- A potential $5 donation to Conflux

Why should you come?

- Because sleeping in on a Saturday is overrated

- Because art projects are fun any time of the day

- Because if this thing is a complete disaster, you'll want to be there to witness it

- Because we'll be providing coffee and some breakfast type snacks to sweeten the deal

RSVP to the Facebook page so we know how much coffee to bring.

More details below:

Informed by the psychogeographic strategy of “derive,” we will be creating data visualization maps, or “portraits,” of a sample group’s virtual meanderings. These portraits will then be displayed in an online gallery.

Please note: Wifi-ready laptops are required to participate in this workshop.

...

“In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their usual motives for movement and action, their relations, their work and leisure activities, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there…”

The topography of the digital landscape—an intricate web of links and nodes—promotes the kind of randomized exploration and discovery that psychographers find so intriguing in the urban environment. As we traverse the web’s information channels, we are far more willing to put aside external motivators and stray off course, to let ourselves wander and submit to the whims of our curiosity—our sense of discovery and awareness of our “surroundings” is heightened.

In this workshop we will be using a variety of tools to track participants’ travels online and then map each trajectory with data visualization tools. Each map will serve as a psychogeographical data “portrait” of both the participant’s and the group’s unique experience navigating the web for a period of time.

...

Conflux Festival is the art and technology festival for the creative exploration of urban public space. Produced by Glowlab in New York since 2003. More info at http://confluxfestival.org.

Julia Kaganskiy is a freelance social media and digital strategist. She is also the founder and organizer of the Arts, Culture and Technology meetup in New York City. Her work focuses on exploring the ways new media is changing the way people interact with cultural materials and helping institutions understand how to communicate with their audiences and reach new ones. She can be found online at www.juliaxgulia.com and @juliaxgulia.

An Xiao was recently listed in The Guardian’s “who’s who” of the Twitter art world - she has shown her award-winning photography and digital media in publications and galleries internationally, including the Brooklyn Museum, Yale/Haskins Laboratories, The New York Times and ARTNews. She founded and directs @Platea, a global online public art collective, and blogs on art and social media technology for Art21. She can be found online at www.anxiaostudio.com and @thatwaszen.

Special thanks to Kevin Sweeney for his interactive design skills!

I Search, Therefore I am: Envisioning a search-powered museum experience

2009-05-20T04:06:28Z

Lately, I’ve been delving into the Semantic Web a bit. This came about partially out of a conscious desire to learn more about it, but also because I seem to be encountering it, in some manifestation or another, at every turn. The book I’m currently reading, “Shaping Things” by Bruce Sterling, envisions a “Synchronic Society” where everything is mapped, tagged, and searchable. Objects are now “spimes,” the next evolution in technoculture and design. Spimes are data-encrypted with information about their history (where they were made, how, by whom, etc.), as well as sensors that log information about their use and interaction with their environment. This log is self-updating and the data in it is crunched by powerful processors, creating a searchable database—an index, an “internet of things.” (He describes it better. It’s a great read!)

I also just watched a video of Wired’s Kevin Kelly talking about Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web. Even though the video is more than a year old—Kelly gave this talk at a conference back in February of 2008—as with any visionary train of thought, it seems to only grow more relevant, impending even (and all that implies). Again, the common train of thought here seems to center around increased access information, mapping, tagging and then, ultimately, being able to search it all (and, consequently, create a customized experience).

I’m also reading Koven Smith’s paper about the use of handheld devices in museums, and the combination of all three has me trying to envision what a museum experience informed by the Semantic Web would look like. Koven does a pretty good job outlining one, but before I finished reading his paper to find out what he proposed, I put it down to write out my own version:

A mobile, multimedia museum experience informed by the Semantic Web (to me) would look like:

I’m walking through The Whitney Museum, checking out their Claes Oldenburg/Coosje van Bruggen exhibition The Music Room and I stop in front of “Soft Viola.” It’s a sculpture I’ve never seen before and I am immediately intrigued. Maybe it’s the musical ties which speak to me, or the sad, melancholy way the viola sags there, mounted on the wall, but I feel an affinity for this particular object and I want to know more about it.

I take out my iPhone (or other multimedia device with wireless capabilities) and search for the object. The search brings me to the object’s landing page, which itself is searchable. [An interesting model for something like this, which I also recently encountered, is WolphramAlpha] I type in a keyword, say “inspiration,” which leads me to other potential links of information about what external factors, be they societal or personal, could have informed this artwork.

Maybe I find out that the work was created in response to something going on in their personal lives, or a critique of the deterioration of popular music—who knows? The point being is that I am able to gain added context through which to interpret and understand the work. More importantly though, the ability to customize that context—to be able to access additional information about it that is relative to my relationship with and interest in the artwork—makes the experience that much more powerful for me as an art viewer.

Koven takes the experience even further by suggesting the search engine also provide recommendations in the vein of Last.fm, Amazon or Pandora; as well as map out routes to those objects within the galleries themselves. In particular, I really enjoyed his thoughts on how this type of handheld museum experience would enable the user to “slice-and-dice” all of the museum’s available objects on display the same way he might filter the virtual collections information online.

“Having textual data available for every single object opens up the possibility to search, filter, and group objects. Our users have come to expect this ability on the Web; now give them that same ability in the physical space. Ad hoc grouping means that visitors are no longer restricted to highlights constructed by museum personnel – visitors can, in effect, create their own highlights, based on criteria they set.”

A museum experience of this sort would indeed be a lofty, ambitious and costly project for any institution to take on, but I think it would be a worthwhile one in the long run. For one thing, though museums may not be in a position to be innovators—that type of work is better left for nimble, risk-taking startups and entrepreneurs—they are in a position to analyze the trends and make calculated judgments of valuable technologies to explore and finance. I think search and customizable user experiences are the topics to pay attention to, and a handheld device is the perfect “form” to experiment with this kind of functionality. Not to mention, think of the potential to learn about your visitors and how they interact with the museum materials! All these search queries and paths are trackable and can be mined for insight that could be used to shape better, more user-friendly museum exhibitions and programs.

IMA's ArtBabble: Get your babble on

2009-03-23T00:57:29Z

Art-Bab-ble [ahrt-bab-uhl]
noun; verb (used without object) -bled, -bling

1. free flowing conversation, about art, for anyone.

2. a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion - no art degree required.

After talking about video in the previous two posts I wanted to highlight an exciting new experimental video undertaking by the Indianapolis Museum of Art: ArtBabble.org. It’s still in private Beta, but if you’re interested in checking it out, I’ve got about 50 invites to give away. Just leave your email address in the comments.

ArtBabble can best be described as a social network based around high-quality art video content. The video content is not itself art; rather, it is educational and expository in nature. It ranges from forthright interviews with the artists featured within IMA’s walls (In the Factory), offering users insight into the artist’s sources of inspiration, creative process and vision, to staff profiles (Employee Profiles) and recordings of museum talks (Talks). There is also a series of webisodes shot on location at the Louvre highlighting the Louvre’s Roman Art collection and discussing the pieces in the context of Roman history (Roman Art from the Louvre).

The content is masterfully produced, engaging and informative. It’s not the kind of dry, academic, dusty tweed jacket content one would expect from a museum. One of the Roman Art webisodes is called “I love the A.D.’s” and is inspired by the popular VH1 series “I love the 80s.” In it, scholars discuss Roman-era fashion and epicurean trends. Their sage commentary is spliced with hilarious asides by a toga-wearing J Noland (a young IMA staffer?) like, “Juvenal, ah, the Roman scholar! I believe it was Juvenal who said, ‘Girl, you look good. Why don’t you back that a$$ up. Wobbidy, wobbidy.”

My favorite feature, however, is the additional links tab that appears on the right-hand side as you watch any video. The links direct you to any number of additional resources meant to supplement the video content and enrich your viewing experience with additional information and a deeper sense of context.

While watching the video on Orly Genger and her project “Whole,” for example, I was directed to Orly’s IMA blog post about the work, the IMA’s Flickr set on Orly’s installation, as well as a short YouTube video of Orly’s previous work, “Mr. Softy,” in which Orly pants and heaves as she struggles to crawl under the massive, heavy rope structure while ice-cream truck music plays in the background—an image at once mesmerizing and strangely unsettling. There are also some cheeky, seemingly random clips, like one of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Mr. Universe days and a look at the Earth’s layers (this all makes sense in the context of the video, I promise).

ArtBabble’s design is slick and easy to navigate, allowing users to easily download videos onto their iPods, share them on external social media platforms and embed them on their blogs. As far as social networking capabilities though, the options are kind of limited at the moment. Users can post comments on videos both within the video stream and in comment boxes below it, but there doesn’t seem to be any way for one user to friend another or to engage in a conversation beyond the comment stream. It’s also unclear whether users can upload their own videos, or post things like video comments, though this type of functionality may be in development.

Overall though, it’s an interesting project and a great educational tool. Kudos to IMA for taking the initiative to try something new and building a space where people can have intelligent conversation centered around smart art videos. I’m looking forward to watching this project grow!

Online Video and what it means to be "vitterate" (Pt.2)

2009-03-09T02:57:44Z

In the previous post, I outlined several interesting statistics I picked up at Social Media Week NY. Now, I'm going to relay a few the content creation tips. I'll then look at some examples of good uses of video in a following post.

So...how does online video apply to cultural institutions?

If people like Andrew Rasiej are right in their predictions that the rising “vitteracy” rate could eventually make video the predominant mode of communication online, cultural institutions would do well to experiment with video now while they have an opportunity to find their “voice.”

With the advantage of a built-in audience of patrons, scholars, students and art enthusiasts, they can test out different approaches to online video—Should the content skew more educational or entertaining? What’s the appropriate balance for online? And does it vary from platform to platform (ex: iTunes “vodcast” vs. YouTube video)?—these are just a few of the questions they should be asking themselves.

If there’s one thing cultural institutions have the opportunity to excel in, it’s in the quality of their content. Even if the videos are shot on a Flip camera (which, by the way, has a program that provides non-profits with free cameras), the information and research will naturally be top-notch, and if it also happens to be conveyed in an captivating manner, it will absolutely be watched and appreciated. It may never go “viral,” but that’s ok. Getting a steady 100 or 200 views a month still makes the effort worthwhile in the long run by building awareness, generating exposure, engaging with your audience where they live and in their preferred “language,” and further cementing your institution’s reputation as an authority and valuable resource.

A few content creation tips from SMWNY:

1) Create content that adds value to your target audience’s life. Of course, if you haven't yet, you’d have to first identify your target audience and determine what kind of content will add value to their lives. Beyond the traditional modes of demographic research—surveys, focus groups, etc.—some interactive ways of collecting and tracking questions and impressions from patrons could be useful here. Perhaps setting up a Ning network or using Twitter could be effective here. Or trying something like the Mattress Factory’s SMS campaign and video confession booth, or the Brooklyn Museum’s electronic comment kiosks.

2) Story-based content is better at engaging an audience. Use video as an opportunity to tell stories and create a rich contextual image as opposed to just presenting dry factual information. Personal stories give the audience something they can relate to and are magnetic for that reason—if nothing else, we are usually transfixed by humanity on display (ahem, reality television?). If story-based content doesn’t fit with your project, consider at least implementing a conversation-based model where the information is communicated via a casual dialogue—Smarthistory.org does this really well.

3) Involve the audience in the creation process. By “crowdsourcing” your content ideas, you increase the engagement level of your audience and give them an opportunity to become invested in the project. Your viewers become collaborators and their contribution in your project gives them a stake in the content, as well as a feeling of importance and recognition.

4) Pair your content with a relevant topic of discussion and become part of the conversation. Is there some sort of controversy or heated discussion happening in an area related to your field? Use video as an opportunity to join in the conversation. Create a short video response, or a podcast that provides additional information or context to the discussion. Joining the conversation further establishes you as a member of the community with a valuable contribution.

This is not, by any means, an exhaustive list. Please add your own tips and examples!

Online Video and what it means to be "vitterate" (Pt.1)

2009-03-03T01:53:24Z

[Note: I've been writing this blog post for-freaking-EVER. I started it the week after Social Media Week NY--and that was about two weeks ago! Granted, preparation for (and anxiety over) last week's meetup didn't leave much time for writing. Still, it's pretty clear I've hit a bit of a road block, so in the interest of getting things moving I'm just breaking it up into two posts in the hope of generating some inertia.]

I’ve wanted to write about video for a while, but didn’t really feel myself qualified to do so. I’m not a vlogger, and though I manage the Unigo.com YouTube account at work, I don’t produce most of the content that goes up there, save for a few random quirky videos from around the office. Still, I haven’t been able to shake the topic and it seems like these past couple of months, I can’t enter into a conversation about social media without it inevitably turning towards online video.

There’s no denying it: video is HUGE, and if you’re not paying attention to it, you definitely should be.

Two weeks ago I attended a few panels during Social Media Week NY (SMWNY). As can be expected from a conference bearing that name, online video was on everybody’s lips. Some interesting facts that I picked up:

The number of searches being performed on YouTube each day is second only to Google. People are searching for entertainment, yes, but also for practical information, how-to’s, educational videos, etc. Having a slice of that pie, even if it’s just a tiny sliver, should be part of every institution’s online marketing strategy. (via For Your Imagination's Social Entertainment panel)

There are 15 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute. The pace at which video is becoming one of our most popular modes of communication is astonishing, and nowhere is this more apparent than online. I can’t tell you how many times I have wished, or even contemplated, sending a video instead of answering a particularly lengthy question via email—idea courtesy of Saul Colt of Freshbooks, who actually does answer client emails with video responses occasionally. Let’s face it, watching a 2-minute video is far quicker, easier and arguably more engaging than reading a 1,500 word blog post. At the Innovation in Politics, Policy and Social Change through Social Media panel, Andrew Rasiej posited that as communication platforms online are evolving, it’s possible that video could eclipse text as the preferred medium as our society becomes increasingly “vitterate.”

The average number of views for a video on YouTube is two a month. Considering all the videos with views in the hundreds of thousands and millions, this means that the majority of content on YouTube is unwatched. This raises questions (at least for me) about the nature of the majority of content populating YouTube (What is it? What purpose does it serve? What purpose was it intended to serve and has it succeeded?), the sheer volume of content you will be competing with means it’s got to be good to get noticed. For cultural institutions, which are serving a clear-cut niche audience and typically have a much higher standard of excellence than your average YouTube user, I think this particular statistic need not be a deterrent. If they create and distribute the content, chances are it will be seen, even with little or next to zero promotion.

.......

Ok, so now while I fine-tune the second half of this epic post and work on getting over my writer's block, I'm going to leave you with the video footage from the Innovation in Politics, Policy and Social Change panel. It was without a doubt the best panel I attended at SMWNY. I highly recommend watching it. I believe Rasiej's comments are in the second portion of the video segment.

Please let comments or questions below! Answering them might be just the thing that helps me get out of this funk.

Social Media Week NY: Innovation in Politics, Policy, and Social Change through Social Media Pt. 2 from Panman Productions on Vimeo.

List of Presenters for February Arts/Tech Meetup

2009-02-11T23:02:29Z

Updated 3/1/09

I've *finally* uploaded the presentation videos from the February Arts, Culture and Technology meetup. The event was held at Ars Nova theater in Hell's Kitchen last Tuesday (2/24/09) and my Dad was kind enough to come and take pictures and video. The sound is a little low and portions of certain presentations have been cut off, but for the most part, I think they came out really well.

Glowlab Gallery

Christina Ray is the founder and Director of Glowlab, an innovative art gallery focused on the convergence of contemporary art, technology and the urban environment. Christina is also the founder of the Conflux Festival here in New York; these days she's working with the Times Square Alliance to bring innovative art to Times Square, and is also serving as an Advisory Board Member for the new 92Y Tribeca.

Website: http://glowlab.com

Twitter Updates: http://twitter.com/glowlab

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaray

Artlog.com

Manish Vora is the co-founder of Artlog.com, a resource for art lovers, artists and institutions. Join the Artlog community at http://artlog.com/signup, follow us at Twitter http://twitter.com/artlog or join the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=37a1e7e7f47d44a813dd00b6ad8e3928&gid=24335970219

Barry Hoggard

Barry Hoggard is co-creator of ArtCal, an opinionated New York visual arts calendar and magazine, and Culture Pundits, an arts and culture advertising network. He also operates a platform for hosting artist and gallery websites called ArtCat. You can find his social media links on his blog, bloggy.com.

ArtCat - http://www.artcat.com/

ArtCal - http://www.artcal.net/

Culture Pundits - http://www.culturepundits.com/

bloggy.com - http://bloggy.com/

MoMA

Victor Samra is the digital marketing manager at the Museum of Modern Art, reporting to its digital media and marketing departments.

http://www.moma.org

http://twitter.com/MuseumModernArt

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/MoMA-The-Museum-of-Modern-Art/24547752280

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MoMAvideos

The Film Society of Lincoln Center

After years of creating websites and advertising copy for major corporations, Amanda McCormick entered the nonprofit arts world last August by accepting a web editor position for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. She has grown the organization’s presence in the social media space via a blog (http://filmlinc.com/blog ), a Twitter presence (http://twitter.com/filmlinc ) and a Facebook fan page (http://filmlinc.com/facebook ), among other outlets.

Jaki Levy

Jaki Levy is the founder of Arrow Root Media, new media production company focused on content development. His online audience initiatives in the field of dance + technology have won awards and grants from the Doris Duke Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Cisco.

company: http://www.arrowrootmedia.com

flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackomo

linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jakilevy

skype: jakilevy

Muxtape

Luke Crawford is an interface designer and programmer and the CTO of Muxtape.

Website: http://www.muxtape.com

Blog: http://tlvx.net

Username on Twitter and elsewhere: luke0x

Indaba

Indaba Music is a network of and for musicians. It is now the leading collaboration tool and social network for musicians, with 125,000 musicians in 175 countries. They've been getting a lot of attention recently from places like TechCrunch, Wired, Ars Technica, and even The Colbert Report.

Website: http://www.indabamusic.com/

Sample session: http://www.indabamusic.com/sessions/joepress/50246

Colbert Remix: http://www.indabamusic.com/contests/show/colbert

Mobile Commons

Mobile Commons is a technology provider to cultural institutions. We make it easy for museums, theaters, zoos and aquariums to launch and manage mobile campaigns. Our technology allows you to collect information, send alerts/reminders, raise funds and interact with guests on site.

website: http://mobilecommons.tumblr.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/mobilecommons

michael@mcommons.com

An Open Letter to Cultural Institutions Online

2009-02-04T03:58:16Z

Lately, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the role cultural institutions play in our society and what kind of function(s) they serve, or should serve. A few weeks ago, NewCurator.com circulated a video in which dozens of museum professionals were asked the question, "What is the single most important function of museums?" Later, @newcurator then posed the same question to the Twitter community. You can view the results of the poll here, as well as a pretty nifty word cloud compiled from the responses.

Needless to say, the question made a huge impression on me, evidenced by the fact that it never left me, to the point where it now informs every thought I have regarding cultural institutions and the arts. While there were many answers given above that I found insightful, the one that resonated with me the most (and, incidentally, was repeated most often) was "to educate."

Part of what I love about the arts is the sense of enlightenment that comes with a particularly moving experience at a museum, dance, opera or philarmonic performance. It's as if someone expanded the corridors of your mind, opened a door or a window or some new avenue, let in some fresh air, and suddenly, you're looking at things from a whole new perspective--if not permanently, at least long enough to make a difference in your day to day. Maybe that's not an experience that happens for everybody, but I'm willing to bet that most people have felt something akin to this at one point or another.

Cultural institutions' capacity for education--and not necessarily in the dullard, didactic, or even scholarly sense, but simply in the sense of imparting ideas and information from one source (a reputed source of authority) to a curious mind--is what I think makes them such a vital part of society. What I don't understand, however, is why so many institutions still feel, or at the very least act like they do, that this exchange of information, this translation of knowledge, can only take place in the physical space (as opposed to the virtual).

Too often, I find myself wondering what happens to all the information I see in program books, exhibition catalogues, all that museum display text and audio guides--where does all that stuff go once the exhibition goes down? Why isn't it repurposed and put up online? Why can't I watch or download the Met's HD Opera broadcasts on their website? Or better yet, on Hulu.com? Why are cultural institutions essentially hoarding this information when everyone agrees their primary role is that of educator, which, near as I can understand, requires disseminating information?

Ok, I admit, I know very little about how cultural institutions operate, and I'm sure there are all sorts of copyright and intellectual property laws that prevent these institutions from having a free-for-all with this content. Not to mention, there is that whole issue of money and how to make it. I get it. But putting that all aside for a moment, I still feel like they're missing out on a few opportunities.

1. To establish themselves as the go-to authorities for the content they provide. When I type an artist's name into Google, let's say Picasso, invariably the first thing that pops up is a Wikipedia entry. WHY?! Wikipedia has become our go-to source for information, though none of us can deny that it's not exactly the most reliable or trustworthy source. It's just a reliable repository of information--you know that whatever you're looking for is going to be there. With the more legit sources, that's not so much a guarantee.

The first reference source for the Wikipedia entry is the MoMA. Why is the MoMA letting Wikipedia steal its thunder? In fact, out of the 10 sources listed on the first page of Google results, only one appears to be a museum--the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. That's not to say that there aren't any useful or authoritative sources on that first page, the Online Picasso Project, for instance, looks like quite a nice catalog of Picasso's work. But then again, so there's also Mr.Picassohead.com, an online game that lets you create a Picasso-style face in Mr. Potatohead mix-and-match fashion.

2. Increased presence and permeation of cultural information online will aid in the education and appreciation of the arts. One of the questions I hear cultural institutions ask a lot is, "How do we engage the young people? How do we get them to come out?" Most people my age might take a trip to the museum about once or twice a year, maybe on an outing with their parents, while something like the Philharmonic or the Opera is seen as dreadfully boring to the point of actual torture. Maybe I'm exaggerating here, but not by much. If an appreciation for the arts is not something that's been instilled in a person from an early age, chances are, the associations they're going to have with something like opera are of the caricature variety--a fat woman wearing a horned helmet belting out awful sounding music in an incomprehensible language...for four hours. That sounds like brutal torture to just about anybody.

Increasing the presence of arts and cultural institutions online, and by extension, increasing the presence of arts and culture itself, could help teach a new generation of Americans to love the arts. The way I see it is as a sort of cultural immersion. If the arts are everywhere--on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo--chances are they will be found and seen and (gasp!) maybe even enjoyed by a larger audience. Exposure is important, I think, because it plants the seed--it breeds curiosity and the desire to know more, but beyond that, it also establishes a sense of familiarity. Familiarity is imporant because it opens up the individual to learning more. The next time the person encounters opera or Picasso, they already have a point of reference, a touchstone which enables an "Oh yeah, I've heard of this before...now what was it about?"

I don't know if any of these ideas are going to help cultural institutions make money, but in a perfect world, that would be the end result. By establishing themselves as authorities and immersing the public in the cultural knowledge, perhaps they'd garner a sense of allegiance from the public. These types of efforts, paired with something like social media, could help people develop very real and personal relationships with the institutions, the communities surrounding the institutions, and the cultural properties themselves.

But like I said, I have only the vaguest idea of how non-profits work and the challenges they are facing. I'd love your thoughts on what I may have missed and what I haven't considered.

Artist's Social Media Toolkit

2009-01-25T22:13:46Z

At my meetup last week, I met a lot of artists who were interested in learning more about how to promote themselves on the web and get their work in front of people. It got me thinking about availble resources online that individual artists could use to self-publish their work, exchange ideas with fellow artists and interact with existing and potential customers/fans. Then, this past Thursday, @bethrharris (Director of Digital Learning at the MoMA and one of the masterminds behind http://www.smarthistory.org/, the most beautiful art history "web-book" I've seen to date. Their use of multimedia is excellent and the content is smart, rich and fascinating.) posted a comment on Twitter about whether the internet turns the individual into a curator and I haven't been able to get the thought out of my head since.

On the web, the artist has an opportunity to circumspect the gatekeepers at traditional galleries and museums (I'm writing in the context of visual art, but these ideas can be applied to just about anything, I think) and curate his own show, where the work is showcased in dozens of different "exhibition halls" all around the web--for instance Flickr, YouTube, perhaps an online community, or a widget. Ideally, the artist would also increase engagement with his audience by de-mystifying the artistic process and helping provide context to the work and what inspired it in the form of a blog or a podcast. Each new work could be documented in the conception and execution phases, the process and thoughts behind it could be explained, the audiences questions could be answered.

In any case, if I were an artist, here are some things I'd be doing to "curate" my web presence:

1. Keep a blog. It doesn't have to be anything fancy--even just something you post on as little as once a week should suffice, provided that one weekly post be one you've put some time and thought into. Write about what you're working on, what you've been doing lately, what has inspired or intrigued you as of late (if possible, you could throw up a link to it, too), maybe some pictures if you're a visual artist, or an audio sample if you're a musician. Keep an almost journal-like account of what you did that day, what you're thinking about.

Beyond that, your blog should become your home base. Set up a gallery of your work to showcase new and existing projects. If your work is for sale, indicate so and set up a PayPal or other system through which your audience can buy your work at the click of a button. The Art K. MacGuffin blog, for instance, is essentially just a virtual marketplace of art for sale with a few podcasts thrown in to liven up the site.

2. Consider starting a video blog. For those who feel comfortable in front of the camera, a vlog might be an excellent supplement (or even substitute) to a traditional blog. Video is undeniably an entertaining and engaging medium, and equipped with a webcam and some basic editing software, you could effectively do what Valerie at Val's Art Diary does. She started a very popular YouTube channel where she posts weekly videos of her painting, interspersed with some random thoughts and musings. Her social media presence, driven largely by the success of her YouTube vlog, is what keeps her in business and helps her sell her work and get commisions. It's also landed her on Wall Street Journal and FoxNews. You can read some more of her tips for artists here.

3. Make connections on Twitter. I'm a huge Twitter advocate, mostly because I've had so much success with it myself. It's a great way to make connections with people from all over the world--and when I say connections, I don't just mean in a "networking" sense. I really mean when you connect with someone over a shared interest or a point of common ground. I would start out searching for people on Twitter who have similar interests as me by using search.twitter.com to find people who are tweeting about the topics I'm interested in. I'd start following them. If they ever tweeted something that stuck a chord with me, for whatever reason, I'd probably say so, and in that way, start a dialogue with them. A few such interactions, and before you know it, you'll have a new friend. Then, see who they interact with and look for the interesting people in their social circle. Basically it builds from there. The stronger your relationships become with these people, the more likely they'll be to check out your latest blog post or comment on your newest work. Twitter, at least for me, is more akin to a community of folks, and I often turn to them with questions or calls for help. The best part is--they listen and answer.

4. Join an online community. Speaking of communities, you should join one. There are tons of online communities [read: social networks, messageboards, forums] for artists, musicians, actors, dancers, etc. Find the ones that more apply to or interest you and join one. If I were a visual artist, I might join DeviantART or Artlog, not just because they're places where I can showcase my work, but also because I can participate in a conversation with my peers, share information and ideas, strike up friendships and collaborations, and accrue a support system for myself via this virtual community.

5. Search for opportunities to display your work. One of the best things about the web is that it's a place of constant change and innovation. New websites, businesses, applications and widgets are cropping up every day, and many of them may be excellent opportunities for you to get your work in front of an audience. The wider you cast your net, the greater your chances of making a sale or scoring a commission--you never know who your work will wind up in front of, or how they may react to it. One thing to remember though, is to make sure all roads lead back to you (or, rather, to your home base--your blog) and at every opportunity available, your contact info or, when appropriate, a "Buy Now" button, are prominently on display.

Some examples of the kinds of opportunities I mean:

Art for iPhone, Artzilla, Add-art.org

I'm sure there are lots other out there. I found out about these via Twitter, blogs, and online communities, which is why it's good to participate in, or at least listen to, the discussions your peers are having in these spaces.

These are what I consider the "essentials." What else do you think should be on this list? I welcome your thoughts!

An Inspiring Quotation

2009-01-21T03:43:20Z

As mundane as it may sound, I've spent the better part of today getting my blogroll in order (check out the new additions in Links) and vetting my Google Reader. I had hoped to write some, but instead I spent a lot of time reading and exploring the dozens of blogs and websites I had bookmarked and saved for later browsing (speaking of which, I should really start using my Delicious account again...).

Just wanted to share an excerpt from a keynote address by Diane Ragsdale at the Australia Council arts marketing summit that I found particularly poignant:

Arts organizations need to find a way to assess their progress in—for lack of a better goal—making great art that matters to people—as evidenced, perhaps, by increased enthusiasm, frequency of attendance, the capacity and desire to talk or write about one’s experience, or in some other way respond to the experience, the curiosity to learn about the art form and the ideas encountered, the depth of emotional response, the quality of the social connections made, and the expansion of one’s aesthetics over time.
We can’t declare mission accomplished just because we get people in the door—we need to care about how the experience has affected them.

And...

The Internet has given everyone with access the tools to create and distribute their own art. Arts organizations could become mentors, resource providers, or sources of content that could be re-purposed by amateur artists. Or they could invite pro-am artists to submit artistic work that could be displayed on their Web sites as a way of building community—and, who knows, maybe even finding new talent or new programming ideas.

Huge thanks to Beth Dunn and Nina Simon for linking to the speech in their blogs last week. It is a lengthy but deeply insightful speech and I highly recommend reading it. I think Ragsdale does a really nice job of outlining the areas where cultural institutions need to reassess their game plan and citing examples of innovators who have already begun making strides. Exploring the ideas, exhibitions, productions and sources mentioned in this speech will keep me busy for quite a while, so I figured I should share.

Do you have any other resources for me? I am a sponge right now.

First Meetup = Success!

2009-01-17T01:42:10Z

This past Thursday was the first meeting of my Arts, Culture and Technology meetup and...it went well! I'm happy to say that all my worrying was for naught--people came, they mingled, they met people with similar interests and had inspiring conversations. Everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves and, for my part, it felt great to bring people together in a meaningful way. By the end of the night, I was on top of the world and giddy with the vibrant energy in the room that night.

I've been trying to remember some interesting details or an anecdote from the night, but to be honest, from the moment the first guest walked into the back room at Art Bar, the night became a blur of greeting, handshaking, brief snippets of conversation, followed by more greeting and handshaking. I did my best to introduce people to one another and facilitate the networking, but I'm pretty sure some of the best connections of the night happened entirely on their own.

What was most illuminating for me was that the very things I dreaded about this meetup--the fact that the group was so diverse and seemingly unweildy--ended up being the things people praised the most. One member wrote in his meetup rating that "Anyone who is interested in the topic should show up, there is a wide variety of people and interests," and I wholeheartedly believe that to be true.

There were artists present who had no idea what Twitter was, but walked away with the intention to join, as well as a whole list of blogs to follow and instructions on how to create a Google Reader. There were also tech innovators looking to make a connection in the non-profit sector or just to get some inspiration for their next project. What surprised me was how the two extremes effectively balanced each other out through a desire to help one another and exchange ideas and information.

I can't speak for anyone else but I walked away from the event excited about the people I had met and with a calendar full of coffee and lunch dates to continue the night's discussions further, as well as the feeling that this was a wonderful new community in the making.