Since arts managers are in the business of curated social interaction, it’s worth keeping an eye on the cutting edge of such things. One area of the world to watch, specifically, is the wide and wild world of social networking software. This includes any combination of computer software, hardware, and/or personal technology devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.) specifically designed to enrich and enmesh the social interaction of individuals.
An increasingly popular category within this technology is the friend and network tracking software available through web sites like Friendster (a social network platform intended to build and find social connections, building off your current group of friends and their friends and their friends) or LinkedIn (a similar platform, but designed more specifically for professional networking). There’s an overview of both systems, as well as a new one from Google, in this article from informIT.
Around the edges of the obvious stuff, however, is a whole wave of more subtle systems of sharing ideas, information, links, and resources. Among them, del.icio.us, a way to build a shared list of web bookmarks that others can subscribe to, or Kinja, a way to aggregate your favorite weblogs, and share your list with the wider world (here’s my Kinja account, if you want to see what I read regularly).
Rather than get lost in the groovy gadgets, however, the bigger take-away is this: consumers are finding more and more ways to share what they know, find people with similar interests, and actively participate in their network of on-line associates. It’s an obvious world of rich potential for arts and cultural institutions, who hope to foster such conversations that involve their art and their efforts.
