Page 111 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

process by facilitating the search and creatinga more enjoyable festival experience. Around the time of the festival, these playlists motivate future attendees even more. And it is not unusual for a festival’s followers to compile their own playlist, as with Afropunk.6Returning to the main issue, one of the bene ts we are seeing with social media platformsis how they are used to generate or rathergive momentum to a community made up of di erent types of followers and fans of a brand – for example, a festival – who can range from people interested in its theme and the content it shares on social media sites to faithful attendees who never miss an edition.We can also identify di erent degrees of involvement and what they yield in return. For building a community entails more than just sharing interesting links and waiting for people to respond or share them. It involves joining forces in public relations (however minimal) on and o -screen – as witnessed in a few cases such as the Celsius 232 festival – and ensuring that attendees have a good experience during, before and after the festival in order to shape them into a cohesive network and cultural agent that is part of the festival’s value.The concept of a community proper as opposed to a 2.0 audience is well illustrated by the case of Afropunk Fest, whose participants are grouped together in a community who meet at the festival. It started out in 2003 as a project for a documentary on Afro-American underground culture. More than a documentary on music,it raised issues and debates on being black, so-called interracial relations, black power... In 2005, after sparking an online movement and congregation based around these ideas, it came into its own as a festival that re ected the energy and ideas that had been brewing since then and has evolved into a rich community. What we describe here could also be addressed later in the section on crowdsourcing.The festival focuses on both music and the arts and is entirely dependent on its community7 to curate the content more e ectively (for example, a good many artists and creators belong tothe community, but there is also an extensive forum like those of ten years ago where related information is shared), to recruit volunteers who help make the event possible and reduce costs (with e orts shared among more than 4,000 volunteers in various posts and with various tasks) and to grow as a cultural statement soas to enhance the festival experience, among other reasons. Afropunk is an entity that is made up of the community, the festival itself and the content it shares in the form of very carefully written weekly newsletters.The community also votes on the groups that perform, who are presented as candidates by members of the online community. This social way of working begins on the social media sites but continues in the forum8 and in face-to-face format, by creating networks and cultural fabric with young creators too.Its presence on conventional social mediasites (Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) isgeared more to disseminating African and Afro-American art, creativity and culture – even down to the clothing worn by festival goers, which plays an important role in this cultural activism. These social media are also used to announce the festival schedules and promotions and, naturally, for advance sales of tickets. The involvement of this community is an outstanding case that deserves to be examined in greaterAC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2016111