{"id":1135,"date":"2016-09-18T19:51:39","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T02:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2016-09-19T13:53:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T20:53:40","slug":"so-what-exactly-is-a-quantitative-measure-of-the-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/so-what-exactly-is-a-quantitative-measure-of-the-arts.html","title":{"rendered":"So What Exactly Is A &#8220;Quantitative&#8221; Measure Of The Arts?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-1136\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?resize=1024%2C498&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"success-1513746_1280\" width=\"1024\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?resize=1024%2C498&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?resize=300%2C146&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?resize=768%2C373&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arts Council England says it will use a standardized assessment system called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artscouncil.org.uk\/quality-metrics\/quality-metrics\">Quality Metrics<\/a>\u00a0in evaluating the arts it it considers funding. The system has been developed over several years and is an attempt to create a matrix by which arts experiences can be measured and evaluated.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the criteria:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Self, peer and public:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Concept<\/strong>: it was an interesting idea<\/li>\n<li><strong>Presentation<\/strong>: it was well produced and presented<\/li>\n<li><strong>Distinctiveness<\/strong>: it was different from things I\u2019ve experienced before<\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenge<\/strong>: it was thought-provoking<\/li>\n<li><strong>Captivation<\/strong>: it was absorbing and held my attention<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enthusiasm<\/strong>: I would come to something like this again<\/li>\n<li><strong>Local impact<\/strong>: it is important that it&#8217;s happening here<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relevance:<\/strong> it has something to say about the world in which we live<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rigour:<\/strong> it was well thought through and put together<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Self and peer only:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Originality<\/strong>: it was ground-breaking<\/li>\n<li><strong>Risk<\/strong>: the artists\/curators really challenged themselves<\/li>\n<li><strong>Excellence<\/strong>: it is one of the best examples of its type that I have seen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But following a pilot project, there has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsprofessional.co.uk\/news\/arts-council-impose-quantitative-measures-arts-quality\">mixed enthusiasm for the approach<\/a> from the arts sector:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artscouncil.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/download-file\/Nordicity%20Evaluation%20of%20Quality%20Metrics%20trial.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">evaluation report<\/a> reveals that arts organisations don\u2019t view all the metrics as appropriate measures of quality. Rather than adopt the standardised measures, it concludes that they want a \u201cbespoke, tailored approach\u201d that aligns with their individual artistic objectives and allows them to \u201cselect metrics that measure what matters\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The evaluation is at odds with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artscouncil.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/download-file\/Manchester_Metrics_Final_Report_May_2014.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">earlier research<\/a> by John Knell, Director of Counting What Counts Ltd, and former ACE Director of Research Catherine Bunting, who claimed that their study had \u201cproved that the cultural sector is capable of generating a clear consensus on outcomes and standardised metric dimensions to capture the quality of their work\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Among the concerns are an administrative burden, potential cost, and, perhaps most important, &#8220;a lack of confidence in the reliability and validity of the data.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But ACE says it will go ahead anyway, having made a substantial financial investment already. Why? The system \u201cwill help us all understand and talk about quality in a more consistent way,\u201d the agency says. For arts advocates looking to make a case for the value of the arts, developing\u00a0an objective, standard, easily understood measure of artistic quality is a Holy Grail. After all, how can you talk about quality if you can&#8217;t define and measure it?<\/p>\n<p>And herein lies the problem. Art is a deeply personal experience. Standardized? Hard to imagine.<\/p>\n<p>A bigger problem is imposing scores on arts experiences. Leave aside whether the scores are accurate. The score criteria can&#8217;t help but begin to define the art, not just measure it. Pretty soon we&#8217;re letting algorithms decide what art gets made and funded. This story from last week about publishers using algorithms to determine what will get published, for example: \u201cA handful of startups in the US and abroad <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/09\/bestseller-code\/\">claim to have created their own algorithms<\/a> or other data-driven approaches that can help them pick novels and nonfiction topics that readers will love, as well as understand which books work for which audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Creativity in market-driven Hollywood is defined by market forces. Pop music gets reduced to tried and true formulas to get on the charts. That&#8217;s not to say that creativity doesn&#8217;t survive or even flourish in pop culture &#8211; but metrics drive the product in a way that doesn&#8217;t put art at the center. Scoring quality by polling audiences inevitably makes quality a popularity contest with measurable criteria. We&#8217;re living in a culture that is increasingly being defined by clicks, likes, RTs etc. \u00a0Popularity is squeezing out almost every other measure of excellence. Is this where we&#8217;re headed in the arts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arts Council England says it will use a standardized assessment system called Quality Metrics\u00a0in evaluating the arts it it considers funding. The system has been developed over several years and is an attempt to create a matrix by which arts experiences can be measured and evaluated. Here are the criteria: Self, peer and public: Concept: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cultural-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/success-1513746_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C622&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-ij","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/a_culture_of_failure.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":0},"title":"A Culture of Failure","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing you hear about the current economic mess is that some banks and companies are \"too big to fail.\" This is the idea that if a mega-corporation like AIG goes down, the repercussions are so enormous that other companies will fall in its wake and the whole financial system\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 12 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 12 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/a_culture_of_failure.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"losers.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/losers.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":751,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/02\/we-asked-whats-the-biggest-challenge-facing-the-arts.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":1},"title":"We Asked: What&#8217;s the Biggest Challenge Facing the Arts?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week we conducted our first ArtsJournal poll, asking readers: What's the biggest challenge facing the arts? We had 3,191 votes, with the largest percentage - 37% - answering funding. Second at 24% was \"relevance\/changing tastes\" followed by \"diversity\" at 15% and \"leadership\" at 13%. Technology came in a distant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;cultural issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"cultural issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/cultural-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/biggestchallengetoarts.jpg?fit=600%2C453&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/biggestchallengetoarts.jpg?fit=600%2C453&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/biggestchallengetoarts.jpg?fit=600%2C453&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":867,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/06\/dissent-on-afta-equity-statement.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":2},"title":"Sorry &#8211; A (Respectful) Dissent On A Well-Meaning Statement On Arts Equity","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"June 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I would say based on the thousands of stories we sift through every day at ArtsJournal, diversity and cultural equity (along with funding) are right now probably the biggest issues being talked about in the arts community. And rightly so. It's astonishing to see article after article documenting \u00a0inequalities in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;cultural issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"cultural issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/cultural-issues"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HappyNewYearFromAmericansForTheArts.png?fit=923%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HappyNewYearFromAmericansForTheArts.png?fit=923%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HappyNewYearFromAmericansForTheArts.png?fit=923%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/HappyNewYearFromAmericansForTheArts.png?fit=923%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1178,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/arts-congressional-report-card-why-the-arts-have-no-political-clout.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":3},"title":"Arts Congressional Report Card: Why The Arts Have No Political Clout","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC has released its 2016 Congressional Arts Report Card rating members of Congress on their support for the arts. Many lobby groups do such rankings as a way of \"holding politicians accountable\" for how they vote on issues the lobbyists care about. The rankings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;arts and politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"arts and politics","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/00cdff2bc5f6c0901a_dgm6bh30v.jpg?fit=674%2C870&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/00cdff2bc5f6c0901a_dgm6bh30v.jpg?fit=674%2C870&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/00cdff2bc5f6c0901a_dgm6bh30v.jpg?fit=674%2C870&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1625,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2019\/12\/are-the-arts-to-blame-for-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":4},"title":"Are The Arts To Blame For Donald Trump?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A few months ago I was at a conference of administrators of large arts institutions when a leading researcher in cultural trends made a bold claim: The election of Donald Trump is a result of the failure of the arts and culture sector.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;arts and politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"arts and politics","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1196,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/art-is-good-not-much-of-an-argument-for-art-is-it.html","url_meta":{"origin":1135,"position":5},"title":"&#8220;Art Is Good?&#8221; Not Much Of An Argument For Art Is It?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I suggested in\u00a0a post this week\u00a0that, based on the lack of any arts business before the 114th US Congress, that it appears that lobbying for the arts seems to be failing. Yes, the NEA\/NEH budgets have stayed more or less stable for the past few years, but the almost complete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;arts and politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"arts and politics","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/whatart.jpg?fit=1200%2C629&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1140,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions\/1140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}