Welcome back to Digital Works, the newsletter from Substrakt that's part of our programme of free talks, podcasts and other content, bringing arts, culture, museums and heritage professionals together to talk all things digital. I'm Katie Moffat, Director of Sector Strategy at Substrakt. Please get in touch if you have anything you'd like to share, or if you need any support with your digital projects.

Latest Things

First up, a couple of Substrakt related items...you may know we have a Digital Works podcast where Ash interviews smart people on the topic of digital. As of next week we are spinning off a strand of the podcast that speaks to this newsletter. Every episode, Ash and I will discuss three stories from the newsletter, including why they’re important and their relevance to the arts and culture sector. Short and snappy, you can think of it as a heads-up for key things to put on your radar. You can subscribe to the feed on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Secondly, we have an amazing free webinar coming up, hosted by our Design Lead (and co-founder of Birmingham Design Festival) Dan Alcorn. In 'The pyschology of UX' Dan will explain the psychology behind what makes a good UX experience and share best practices to consider when building digital interfaces. You don't want to miss this one. 

Now on to other things...

In Elon's latest change to Twitter it's been announced that the platform is going to remove the headline and description that appears when you share a news link on Twitter. This could lead to a lot more clickbait since, as TechCrunch points out, "...with no preview card, publications or blogs can simply write any text inciting users to click on the link". Meanwhile Australia's national braodcaster ABC has announced it is closing almost all its Twitter accounts due to "toxic interactions". I think, over the coming months, we can expect to see more organisations leaving the platform.

The BBC is experimenting with Mastodon (as an aside, this is a good, no jargon explanation of what a federated social network is).

Google has launched a redesigned version of the Arts & Culture app (Android only for now). I had a play around and it's a lovely app to while away some time with.

In response to the number of companies using ChatGPT, OpenAI has launched GPT Enterprise. The official announcement shares that organisations are using ChatGPT "...to craft clearer communications, accelerate coding tasks, rapidly explore answers to complex business questions, assist with creative work, and much more". Give it a few years and we'll all have ChatGPT (or other AI) work accounts in the same way we have email accounts.

Useful Things

This has been shared widely but in case you missed it, content expert Lauren Pope's latest newsletter is all about the curse of PDFs - why they're bad, why people like them and when it's ok to use them.

Visualising AI from Google DeepMind has commissioned some artists to "...create more diverse and accessible representations of AI". The images are free to use on Unsplash.

Some good advice from Zoe Williams, Head of Communications for the Vagina Museum, about how to deal with social media trolls and pile-ons.

The latest report from GWI about social media usage (opens a pdf - I know, the irony!). Most interesting is that social media use is starting to level off or decline, WhatsApp and Instagram are clear favourites, Facebook is holding its ground and, unsurprisingly, TikTok is the favourite with Gen Z. 

How to write good Alt text for memes.

Thought-provoking, Inspiring & Entertaining Things

Let's start this section with a fun post about LinkedIn and how earnest everyone is on there.

Definitely one to keep an eye on - Nesta and Newspeak House launch the Civic AI Observatory, "a space for civic society to learn about AI calmly together".

Some useful and interesting background intel about how the Leeds 2023 team approached their digital strategy.

This issue's 'if you only read one article' recommendation is this salutary reminder that ChatGPT is not a factual database and often just makes things up.

Digital Works Podcast

Here's a selection of our podcast episodes featuring chats with lots of interesting people. 

The power of cultural leaders developing a 'digital imagination' - with Seb Chan, CEO and Director of ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image)

Running a successful digital project - with Fiona Morris, CEO and Creative Director of The Space

Strategy & team culture - with Hilary Knight, formerly Director of Digital at Tate, now a consultant at AEA Consulting

Innovation and experimentation - with Nick Sherrard, a partner at Label Ventures

The importance of collaboration and how NT at Home happened - Nicholas Triantafyllou, the National Theatre

Creating a digital programming department - Stuart Buchanan, Sydney Opera House

Technology in cultural experiences - Annette Mees, artistic director, creative producer and cultural strategist

What makes a great podcast - Hannah Hethmon, Better Lemon Creative Audio

Listen to all 30 episodes.

Good Reads

Just one article for this section but it's such a good one - How to Blow Up a Timeline, is a smart, thought-provoking piece about the decline of Twitter and how the trend is moving away from a social graph network (ie Facebook) towards an interest graph network (ie TikTok).

See you soon

That's all for this issue, if you see anything interesting, surprising, fun, or useful, please do share it with us so we can include it in a future newsletter.

And if you're looking for help with a digital project or any kind of digital consultancy support, please do get in touch.

Until next time, stay safe.

Bye!