What Makes a Digital Initiative 'Strategic'?

Image: Medium.

 What makes a digital initiative “strategic”? What can arts services look like when they go “digital”? Margaret Lam of BeMused Network weighs in on Medium:

1. Embrace a spirit of experimentation.

[...] Not delivering the digital artifacts of what you proposed is not the same thing as failing to address the problem you set out to solve. We just have to adopt the artistic mindset, and understand that technology is the medium, not the answer.

Your digital strategy may include tactics such as building a website, or an app, or even some non-digital components designed to engage people. However, an iterative process means you will re-evaluate existing and new tactics, while remaining anchored by your strategic vision. [...]

2. Develop projects that are collective in scope.

[...] Developing a collaborative project requires a high level of trust between stakeholders and the project delivery team. It is hard enough to cultivate it in just one of those areas, never mind synchronizing it all.

However, there is a common ground that we could all work from: by pooling our human and financial resources, and finding those with whom our interests align, we could fundamentally transform the way we operate, and ultimately, sustain ourselves. [...]

3. Develop “digital literacy” to increase your competitiveness.

[...] Engaging in the creation of digital artifacts deepens our understanding of what those limits are, just as reading helps us understand the limits of words, however powerful they can be.

This understanding calibrates our expectations of what is realistic and possible given common constraints such as time and budget, making us more confident in how we work with those who builds technologies. [...]

For more on strategic digital initiatives, click here.