Page 95 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

elds; they stem from being the epicentre of a type of experience – one that everyone de nes for themselves. As a result of these social and technological changes – and media changestoo – the term ‘festival’ is becoming synonymous with a cultural and social experience more than ever, and its scope can extend to both online and o ine, as well as to multiscreen and o -screen. Festivals as temporary experiences are also witnessing how the concept of ephemeral is changing: it is no longer linear but continuous, reaching across the social media where these events can share content, strengthen community fabric and stress their mission. Indeed, it is even possible to imagine new conceptions of a festival and a festival event based on many of the technologies we will go on to discuss.Returning to practical issues, we will examine how a few technologies such as wearables or the Internet of Things can improve processes as trivial as queuing for drinks at concerts, receiving responses on the social media to a query that can be useful to more people, or locating friends who are scattered around the same venue attending activities going on at the same time.Some of the technologies discussed here are inexpensive and can maximise the festival’s mission and dissemination. We will see that one of the characteristics that distinguish festivals from xed and permanent cultural spaces is that their infrastructure and tools are useful for a particular event. They are not large, complex infrastructures but practical applications that can be easily installed and uninstalled, or are dynamic and exible.This study sets out to examine some of the trends in new technologies, but also to posethe question of what we mean by ‘new’.For example, in this Focus we ruled out the possibility of analysing websites in a separate section. Probably all festivals have a website or logbook or Internet corner in which to present themselves and make known their programme or action. Although web and blog technology is evolving and new improvements are emerging (which we will examine in the next-to-last section), it is basically a familiar and everyday concept. Some scholars are even referring to the current moment as ‘post-digital’.Therefore our aim is to provide a picture of the technologies that continue to be new as far as their implementation is concerned – sometimes largely unknown as they are still in their infancy and have emerged only recently – but arebeing successfully adopted at a considerable number of festivals, and are currently in use. We will describe these new technologies,listing more than 50 domestic and international examples from the world of literature, music and the performing arts as well as multi-genre festivals in order to give an idea of how these technologies are applied in their day-to-day running or at speci c moments and can be used as practical tools for festivals, art events or even online action and to improve experiences and communication with people, the audience.New technologies that are transforming the arts and how festivals are structured or approached... optimising the use of the social media using various strategies... festival programmes thatare turning into mobile applications with greater potential... small, discreet beacons providing contextualised information... you will nd all this and more in this year’s edition.AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201695Focus: Use of New Digital Technologies at Cultural Festivals