|
But the
internet is a vast and restless space and there are many issues that need
to be taken into account in addressing distribution and access for online
arts and culture, such as:
1. The greatest issue that faces the artist, curator or arts organisations
for media arts practice and culture is a simple one: access to sufficient
bandwidth and resources, including sufficient knowledge of distribution
and new technologies to make the right strategic and planning choices
that will enhance their creativity, career and audience.
2. "Version 1.0" of the internet is about to become so-called
"Version 2.0." Version 2.0 will not only converge media and
audiences, it will also diverge into different kinds of broad and narrow
band access with different prices, platforms and audiences-just as free
and pay television have become two different domains with different audiences
and media forms. The low capacity internet we use today could be overshadowed
or marginalised by high speed, high capacity networks that only paying
subscribers can access, together with the so-called "walled gardens"
(or fortresses) of pay-to-view content, such the dedicated, subscriber-only
content Telstra's and AOL/Seven's high speed (broadband) DSL services
provide for a privileged few. Which side of the bandwidth divide will
you be on? (For a rather technical but very interesting overview see "The
Architecture of Internet 2.0 by Kevin Werbach, originally published
in Release 1.0, February 1999" on Esther Dyson's site, which
unfortunately you have to pay for. See also a short
abstract of the article).
3. To address this fragmentation of audiences as internet and other delivery
platforms diverge, and failing government intervention to ensure a proportion
of bandwidth and access is made available for cultural use, artists and
others participating in media arts cultures online must develop online
audience development and maintenance skills, or plan to work with like-minded
public organisations and private companies to achieve these objectives
- standing alone and being completely independent will no longer work
online, except for the biggest players.
4. To address the fragmentation of Australia's online culture into myriad
directories and independent sites (mimicking the competitive environment
fostered by competitive funding policies of government support bodies),
cluster or so-called cultural portal sites and strategies need to be established
that bring together organisations in larger online domains that can attract
sufficient audiences to gain sponsorship and support.
Visitors, customers, users or audiences come to a website primarily because
of quality, innovative, unique and engaging "content" - not
to save or make money, but to have a unique and "special" experience,
something artists and curators understand well, utilising theatrical and
"entertaining" or absorbing elements that are similar to those
used in mass-market or more "popular" forms. However, and most
importantly, this "experience" is provided in unique ways that
are unlike those used by purely commercial websites.
As Stephen Ellis wrote in The Australian (15/5/99), "…brand and reputation
[read identity, uniqueness and quality] may be more important on the Internet
than in the [physical] world, since buyers and sellers [read the arts
and their audiences] are so emphatically separated."
Uniqueness is the media arts' greatest resource, and used wisely and well,
will ensure a future for media arts online by achieving a respect and
position with audiences, government and sponsors that guarantees them
access to and a vital place in the new distribution networks, and the
skills and resources to maintain this position.
|