Page 146 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016
P. 146
1463. A POST-DIGITAL AND CONTEXTUALISED APPROACHSo far we have examined some of the new technologies that are starting to be usedat festivals, both in Spain and all over the world – speci c technologies for enhancing a few aspects of visitors’ experience and ways of improving our relationship with them.At this point it is appropriate to make a few comments on the paradigms which govern new technologies and can help us t the pieces together more strategically, pragmatically and, above all, wisely.In some academic and artistic environments there is talk of the concept of post-digital. This does not necessarily mean that the digital ageis over and that we are witnessing the startof something completely di erent. Whetheror not it is the most tting term, it is used to designate a number of changes in paradigm and in attitudes towards these technologies, but it also refers to the new economic and cultural forms related to the concept of digital, practices that have become established in recent yearsand a ect both the people who live in today’s Information Society and organisations of all kinds.One of these changes is closely related to how we perceive these new technologies. Between 20 and 15 years ago, when the large majority of the population had at least one PC with a noisy modem Internet connection, digital seemed very new and the digital society soundedlike something out of the future. A future in which so many processes and communications would be governed by these (at the time) new technologies seemed like science- ction to us. In general every new platform, every new device and every new social network triggered in us a certain sense of wonder, or a certain amount of fear.But over the past decade we have not only assimilated these technologies but have embraced as ordinary and everyday a whole host of methods and a culture that can be classi ed under the broader concept of ‘digital’.3. A POST-DIGITAL AND CONTEXTUALISED APPROACHFocus: Use of New Digital Technologies at Cultural Festivals
