Beyond the Promise: webinars
A candid look at what’s really going on beneath the surface of digital work in the cultural sector, and how we can do better.
Hi, my name is Ash, I'm an advisor, strategist and facilitator.
For nearly two decades I have helped cultural organisations sharpen their digital thinking and activity.
I am interested in helping you make the most of wherever people and internet technologies come together.
I can support you with projects, challenges and opportunities that involve strategy, leadership, change, users, technology and innovation.
Get in touch: ash@ashmann.co.
Newsletter: Latest issue
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This week's best things
Every world language in one place, 200 paintings and reframing old content, a 'software poem', AI that’s actually good, Zoomquilt, finding time to prototype, the power of meetings, cooperation as a skill, and a request for summer reading recommendations.
This week's best things
Floppy disks as shelf space, WCAG in plain English, designing for limited English, a moody global radio stream, weather apps hurting UK tourism, and Disney’s churros beating streaming. Plus jobs, a joyful viral harmonica group, and tools to rethink time and knowledge.
This week's best things
A new NGA.gov, art in hard times, fresh ways to frame digital, ancient oranges, guarding teams from strategy fatigue, Japanese tree moving, bot farms and info literacy, quick sketching, AI dev hurdles, London Underground Live, and robot arms.
What do we actually mean when we say ‘digital’?
In more or less every conversation I have had about digital over the last year (or more), the topic of just how stretched the word 'digital' now is has come up. Here are some thoughts about different ways of talking about all the things we mean when we say 'digital'
This week's best things
Immersive funding, designing a platform for young people, YouTube is 20, new AI stuff from Google Arts & Culture, Microsoft is shutting down Skype, stakeholders, a case study of website carbon reduction, Seb Chan being interviewed, Google's antitrust cases, and PrepperDisk
This week's best things
Serendipity, collaborative digital art, donation UX, the best museum cafes in the UK, crimes of UX, how people are using gen AI in 2025, a digital Ned Kelly experience, and digital fishmongers.
This week's best things
Rebrands, robots, coping with virtual meetings, webcams, chickens, the water-cooler moment moves online, the downsides of effortlessness, why graphic designers can't stop joking about hating their jobs, Bluesky can't take a joke, and wide-leg jeans from the 90s.
Embracing seasonality - we're not built for 100% all year
Since moving to Sweden 18 months ago, one of the biggest shifts I’ve noticed, compared to life in the UK, is how deeply seasonal life feels here. It feels worth embracing.
This week's best things
Failure stories, FOH & education teams, the National Theatre, a million homepages, AI optimism, museum toolkits, Wikimedia crawlers, knitting, the immersive industry, gov collabs, and a strange Nintendo site.