Page 112 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

112detail in order to study the possibility of using digital tools to achieve new participation levels and create cultural fabric.Establishing a presence on the social media therefore entails much more than achieving visibility. The strategy and tactics used depend on the particular festival’s mission, identity and goals. There is no singular or perfect formula, as social media sites are tools – platformsfor structuring complex and delicate human relations in today’s world.In this regard, what we are observing is a process of maturation in the everyday practice of both users and the great majority of festivals, which have embraced these tools as major portals for communicating on the scale required by society.The most important thing is to use these social platforms in a manner that is coherent with the festival, to act in consonance with their social nature (two-way communication, simultaneousness, a combination of synchrony and instant response and asynchrony or relative permanence of content), but also to experiment with new forms of communicating, of committing to audiences. The social media have so much more to o er than old-fashioned communication channels!2.2. Own appsIt is very important to keep festival goers informed of the schedule, especially ifit is complex or features activities held simultaneously in di erent rooms or venues, so that they can customise their own agenda and so that attendance of activities is optimised.This used to be done through paper programmes, printed publications usuallythe size of a pocket book with several pages.A few years ago some festivals and cultural events chose to post their programmes on their websites in digital format (usually pdf les)as well, so that visitors would not have any di culty nding the full programme several days in advance, and to save on printing ( nancial costs and environmental impact).But in recent years more and more festivals have been developing mobile applications (apps) that include the full programme, related information and a few other interesting features. There isan obvious explanation for this development: whereas previously people would download and print the pdf le, following the emergence of smartphones and their rapid adoption by the lion’s share of society, users started reading these pdfs directly on their phones or even downloading them during the event (sometimes the event provides QR codes or links for downloading them).Now everything can be included in an app. Developing an app allows almost unbounded creativity and also brings organisers several bene ts: it can be designed to allow users to lter activities by artist (to nd those they are most interested in), by date (for example, because they intend to devote that dayfully to the festival) or by style (in the caseof a music festival), and to receive related recommendations (other activities, other artists...) if a mechanism based on users’ choices is included in the programme. And rapid access to ticket sales is another common feature of festival apps.Apps have another advantage for the festival’s management: if an activity is called o or modi ed, or if another arises spontaneously and informally, the app can be updated almost in real time (it all depends on the technical characteristics of the app) so that visitors are informed before or during the festival and their positive experience is not marred as much as it would be if they discovered this for themselves.Another recurring aspect is that an app can be connected to the user’s social media accounts. For example, if someone downloads a festival’s2. NT BEFORE AND DURING THE FESTIVALFocus: Use of New Digital Technologies at Cultural Festivals