Page 64 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

64temporary parliamentarians in a process guided by voting, for which software was designed combining the functions of voting management and interactive script.• In another participatory practice, the Mercat de les Flors o ered its audience the platform ‘¡Que dance quien quieras!’,110 through which they could vote online to decide on which shows should open the 2013–14 dance season. Nearly 15,000 votes were cast.EpilogueFrom big data...to (very) small dataWe currently use all kinds of hyperbolic expressions to describe ourselves as social beings: superubiquitous, hyperactivity, multiscreen, megaconnection. And there must be some truth in all this. But the immediate consequence of this reality applied to the performing arts sector is that it is increasingly di cult to properly learn about our audiences and communities, as their behaviour is irremediably unpredictable.Technology must enable us to explore how to convert data into information for making decisions and learning how to engage with audiences.This situation will prompt an audience management e ort that goes beyond mere segmentation and involves establishing personalised relationships with them and focusing on the micro-moments of the truth ofthe cultural experience. The audience – as we have already commented – has mutated into a demanding prosumer. And technology must enable us to explore how to convert data (or rather microdata) into information for making decisions and learning how to engage with audiences.We are living in an age of absolute infoxication, where we need to be seen by and attract the attention of users, who furthermore have increasingly less time. That is why cultural projects need to have a crystal-clear story that enables them to o er users routes, paths and tracks to help them choose. And it is here that once again technology must help optimise channels of communication and dissemination to extend user experience as much as possible through transmedia.For what citizens are calling for is precisely this: experiences, enjoying and sharing emotions, unique moments. And this is feasible whether these experiences take place in our home or in a private or public space, or on the way from one place to another. But these experiences must also draw from the blend of languages, genres and disciplines... And, once again, technology must be our ally in achieving this.I am con dent that reading these humble observations on changes in the performing arts in the digital age will do justice to another aphorism of the masterful Jorge Wagensberg, who stated in connection with a museum experience that ‘it’s alive when visitors come away with more questions than when they arrived’. So: let’s carry on asking.HOW THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE CHANGING IN THE DIGITAL AGE · PEPE ZAPATASmart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation