Guiding your digital journey
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It would seem a fairly safe bet to say that I’m not alone in thinking that ‘digital’ is one of those overused words that is often meaningless without being put in context. In the fields of arts, culture and heritage, digital technology is employed in many ways – from the making of work and how it’s distributed, how people are made aware of and can learn more about it, through to the systems and processes used by organisations to do their work.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s report ‘Culture is Digital’ explored the many ways cultural organisations currently use technology and looked at opportunities for them to develop even further. As well as recommending the introduction of a Digital Culture Network, the report suggested we and The National Lottery Heritage Fund develop a ‘code’ of guiding principles when using technology and an ‘index’ for organisations to benchmark their digital capabilities and put plans in place to improve. Enter the Digital Culture Compass.
The Digital Culture Compass is an online tool comprising of the Charter, a guiding set of principles for organisations to consider when planning their use of technology, and the Tracker, a self-help tool that breaks down the work of organisations into a series of focused areas for them to assess themselves against. Some of these areas are generic (marketing, strategy and governance, finance) and some are more bespoke to the cultural sector (programming, collections management, talent development). Under each sits a number of questions that help organisations drill down into the detail.
It goes without saying that really getting under the skin of digital plans is not a quick and easy task and probably not something you can do in a lunch-break. There is real depth and breadth to the Compass therefore and we have tried hard to make sure that the areas and issues it unpacks are as relevant to as wide a range of organisations as possible. We’ve also tried, particularly with the design of the tracker, to make it flexible in the ways it can be used – from team away days to reporting to the Board.
To make sure the Compass is useful to as many organisations as possible, collaboration has underpinned the development process. Led by The Space, the tool was built in partnership with Culture 24, The Audience Agency/Golant Innovation, Leicester University and Creative Coop, while the content was developed in workshops with organisations from across all sectors and geographies.
It’s been a real pleasure to be closely involved in the development of the Compass. What’s been most interesting is in noting how many considerations are actually not digital and relate more to overall organisational strategy – do the right skills and knowledge exist at a Board and senior level; how do organisations plan, develop and monitor strategies; is good practice in one area replicable in another?
We very much hope that organisations across all our sectors, artforms and specialisms, large or small find their way using the Compass to transform the use of digital in their work. It’s a journey that we think is well worth the effort.
