Hello Autumn and welcome back to Digital Works, the newsletter from Substrakt that's part of our programme of 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. And if you find this newsletter useful, do forward to a friend or colleague. 

Latest Things

Firstly, I had to start, like a proud parent, by sharing the new Southbank Centre website recently launched by my incredibly talented colleagues. A triumph.

And if anyone is going to the launch of Figuarative this Thursday, I'll see you there. 

In less positive news, X/Twitter has been shut down in Brazil after Elon Musk failed to comply with local laws. Brazil has a huge number of X users, including some very high profile fan accounts, as many users pointed out. It's safe to say that the decline of the platform continues. And, as a result, rival platforms, such as Bluesky, are signing up new users in droves.

AI image generator Mid-Journey is now officially free to use to create up to 25 images.

Threads is experimenting with disappearing posts.

Open AI is supporting a bill in California which would require tech companies to label AI generated content.

Substack now allows anyone to post to the platform, even if you don't have a newsletter. An interesting companion piece to this news is this article by writer Emily Sunberg about the over saturation and homogeny of Substack newsletters.

Useful Things

If you are responsible for managing your organisation's social media accounts, here's a useful, very long, compendium of the state of social in 2024 (via the omniscient Matt Muir).

In case you missed over the summer, Robert Cawston shared some helpful insights from about the approach the National Library of Scotland are taking to AI, including their statement about how they will (and won't) use AI tools.  

Power User is an excellent podcast to keep on top of the latest news and trends in technology and the internet. Written by journalist Taylor Lorenz.

Good tips on how to use emjois in your content in an an accessible way. 

Thought-provoking, Inspiring & Entertaining Things

We mentioned the Tiny Awards last year and are happy to include them again. A celebration of "the small, poetic web". Read more about the awards and why they were founded. 

The RNIB continue to demonstrate excellent judgement with how they deal with trolls and rage posters on social media. 

Some of you may have seen the current Tiktok trend of "Letting the Gen Z colleague write the marketing scripts", here's a perfectly executed example by electrical retailer Currys. 

Digital Works Podcast

In addition to our regular interview podcast, we have a short Bytes series, which we release after each issue of this newsletter to discuss three of the most interesting stories. Have a listen and let us know what you think! 

And here's some of our latest interview episodes:

Building bridges between cultural heritage and Wikipedia - Dr Martin Poulter (Khalili Foundation)

Experiments with the audience experience - Kate Carter, Director of Audiences, Edinburgh International Festival

Raising the Curtain. Technology Success Stories from Performing Arts Leaders and Artists - Dr Brett Ashley Crawford and Paul Hansen on their new book recently published by Wiley

Building in-house digital teams, public-private partnerships and the role that digital can play in enhancing the in-person experience - Michal Čudrnák, Slovak National Gallery

Creating immersive experiences - Samatha King, Vive Arts

How cultural organisations can unleash social media's potential - Haydn Corrodus

Crowdfunding, owning your niche, dealing with censorship and ignoring the trolls - Zoe Williams, Vagina Museum.

Getting to 1 million digital subscribers, creating meaningful metrics, and working with NT at Home - with George Montagu, FT Strategies.

Listen to all the episodes.

Good Reads

Websites and digital content can disappear in an instant and when they do it can leave online communities feeling angry and frustrated. As is the case with the recent decision by the American Institute of Graphic Design to remove much of it's hugely popular Eye On Design blog.

And finally, let's return to Elon's X and peer behind the curtain of the "chaotic revamp of Twitter Blue".

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 like what you read please share with anyone you think will enjoy it.

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!