Do’s for digital trailblazers

It can be a challenge for a cultural organisation without much technical know-how to establish equal partnerships with technical partners, for whom the technological possibilities are endless. And why should you go out looking for digital solutions all by yourself if there are other organisations with the same challenges and with whom you can join forces? But who do you decide to work with and who will make the final decisions? How do you organise more complex collaborations? We have listed the main do’s here to help you.

“There are so many digital possibilities, but it is important to keep asking why you are doing something and for whom.”
Fresco Sam-Sin, Things That Talk

1. Involve your chosen partners

Select digital partners who are truly interested in your product. You need people at your side who will contribute ideas and think ahead, rather than developers who just want the code to be correct. After all, if you want to grow and develop, you cannot just take that code with you to another partner. Fortunately, there are plenty of technical parties out there who really appreciate art and culture and would like to contribute without asking top dollar for their services. So, look for someone who understands what you’re after. Even though this may be a business relationship, a strong foundation of mutual understanding is essential for a future-proof project.

2. Obtain in-house technical expertise

It is one thing to have a good technical partner in place, but the importance of having your own in-house technical expertise should not be underestimated. We come from a time when cultural organisations’ websites mainly served as a calling card or to show what’s on. Today, the digital platform has become an integral part of the operational management. This means that you need in-house technical expertise to ensure everything runs smoothly. In-house technical expertise also means that you will be able to talk with your technical partners as equals and to communicate the relevant information back to your (artistic) team. If you don’t have your own in-house technical expertise, you may become too dependent on your partners, while you ideally want to be the main person in the driving seat.

The online platform Things That Talk gives a voice to historical objects, showing how people, objects and knowledge worldwide are interconnected.

3. Appoint a product owner

Decisiveness is important when you need to make choices. When there is more than one captain on the bridge, you need someone with the mandate to make the final decision. Enter: the product owner. A product owner has the final responsibility for a project and aligns the expectations of cultural organisations with what is actually possible according to the developer.

In these types of partnerships between culture and technology, it is impossible to provide the same guarantees as you would with more common project types, since the developers have to be taken seriously as well. This is why it is more important to manage expectations and to accept that digital projects and developments are flexible, than to implement the original briefing to the letter.

We Are Public Home - We Are Public is a cultural membership that gives unlimited entry to a selection of cultural events in the Netherlands.

4. Have a look at what the neighbours are doing

We have said it before and we will say it again: collaborate. A lot of cultural organisations face the same dilemmas when it comes to building digital platforms with limited budgets. It is inherent to culture to try and make something that’s unique. However, it is a waste of time and money not to share financial and technical resources for these types of digital projects.

Fresco Sam-Sin: “Things That Talk works with a certain zoom technique, for example. This allows you to see things that cannot be seen with the naked eye. There’s a lot of interest in this technique. But instead of relying on foreign suppliers and individual internet companies, it is a lot easier to try and find out how we can develop the technique together within the Netherlands. This almost seems contradictory in the digital and cultural domain since everyone wants to retain their own identity. However, the one does not rule out the other. As a coalition, you are more resilient and in a stronger position to apply for funds, and can stand your ground in your relations with technical partners.”

Make the most of your collaboration and ensure it is successful in the long term. Read our tips about long-term collaboration in digital projects. Long-term collaboration in digital projects | DEN

This article is based on the input we gathered during the DEN interview ‘The art & opportunities of digital collaborations’ on Friday 12 May 2023 in Amsterdam. The interviewees: Leon Caren (founder We Are Public) and Fresco Sam-Sin (founder Things That Talk). Veerle Devreese conducted the interviews and Birgit Van Asch wrote the text (Cornelis Serveert).