Access to Art:
millions of p2p users are online at any given moment - sharing music, images and video
thousands of new artists are getting exposure that the traditional music industry would have blocked
listeners who are excited about a new sound, etc. are sharing with friends over a coffee table, a distribution list, a blog - popular underground marketing at its best
access to hard to get music and movies is facilitated both by online distribution systems and social networks that identify and extol the virtues of little known talent
increasingly, art is available in digital format - see Digital Living Gallery, created by Bandai (a toy and game company) and the creation of a photoframe that looks like a traditional picture frame with artistic content both included and available (e.g. Renoir, van Gogh) - Deviant Art.com shares over 35 million digital artwork
online books have become a fact - dramatically reducing the cost per copy, with the potential to democratize access
increasingly music, visual art and performing art performers and groups will turn to mass distribution at a lower price (or even as a market teaser/loss leader) as the optimal means of attracting enthusiasts to their paying products, venues and performances - a possible win/win situation based on increased accessibility.
Virtual Institutions:
specialized galleries and museums will always have trouble finding critical mass in their narrow geographical market, but are now reaching out to any and all who share their relatively narrow interests around the globe
a number of organizations are engaged in the awesome task of putting millions of books online - Google is targeting the 10 million most popular, half a dozen other such projects have plans to scan the texts of over 60 million books by 2020 - clearly the world's greatest library
the European Commission has launched Eurpeana, a showcase to encourage organizations to donate digital content - it hopes to be the greatest online repository of European culture available (art, films, books, music)
our ability to curate online shows with content borrowed from instititutions around the world is seemingly endless - in time, the consumer may well be the curator, sharing his or her 'production' with others just as music playlists are shared today.
New Creative Opportunities:
a 2005 study found that 57% of American teenagers create content on the internet
PhotoShop, Corel and others have created a technical environment that has spawned a new generation and massive wave of digital art - while galleries and museums focus primarily on using digital technology to store copies of traditional art forms, not yet ready to embrace the new modern art
millions are creating and sharing writing, photography, video productions - Fotolog, Blogger, LiveJournal, Flickr, Broadcaster (to name but a few)
Creative Networking:
millions are creating and sharing writing, photography and video productions with friends and specialized interest groups every day - using social networking sites, blogs, YouTube, etc.
artists with specialized interests are in touch regularly using the same social networking supports - learning together, supporting one another, facilitating creative opportunities
increasingly we will be building virtual cultural spaces - where we expererience the same artistic stimulant and learn to appreciate each others culture-based response
Shared Spaces:
virtual worlds, of which Second Life is a part, comprise one of the fastest growing relms of virtual reality - once the domain of the gaming industry, many corporations and politicians are now creating virtual territory (press conferences, product demos, town hall meetings)
by 2007, there were almost 6 million Second Life residents the US and a study showed a single day expenditure of $1,636,815 in Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com/)
virtual travel is taking people to simulated cafes in cities around the world, to art galleries and museums, to parks, to events - and these 'travellers' are interacting in real time with people with shared interests from other countries
Intercultural Dialogue:
portals, blogs and partcipatory internet enable intercultural dialogue
even though we speak different languages, the digital age is supporting new ways of exchanging cultural opinion, views, services and products
language barriers are being overcome through technology - Web portal Lycos has a free translation service (Babel Firsh) making translation algorithms available to all; new Google tools are removing language as a barrier to communication across the full international scope of the Internet
digital culture changes our relation to one another and to knowledge transfer, removing previous boundaries inherent in traditional art/cultural communication and distribution systems - ultimately redefining cultural creativity
we have no idea where this potential convergence of cultures will take us - but digital technology is likely the 'game changer' that will define our global cultural future.
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