This week's best things
A new community of practice, inclusive storytelling in museums, visual literacy as civil defence, team dysfunctions, mental health on TikTok, the cost of YouTube, the forgetting curve, AI’s limits, digital skills, art rate monitoring, and my enduring love for Sigur Rós.
Want to help shape a new community for people doing digital?
A while back I asked if there was interest in forming a community for people doing digital work in culture. Lots of you said yes.
So now I’m pulling together a small group of early collaborators to test the waters.
This will be a community of practice for people working with digital in culture - intentionally broadly defined, because this work ('digital') is broad. It overlaps disciplines, and shares challenges across artforms. And while there are great groups focused on specific areas like ticketing, preservation, marketing, or specific areas of the cultural sector, I think there’s real potential value in a space that embraces a mix and a diversity of perspective.
First step?
A one-off, 45-minute (Zoom) conversation on June 26th with a small group of people like you just to test the waters, hear about areas of interest and challenge, and shape the potential direction. No prep required, and no commitment beyond that call.
If you’re curious or might want to be involved, register here. Can't make it? Then share your thoughts with me on email: [email protected].
It’ll be thoughtful, informal, and (hopefully) useful. At the very least, it'll be interesting.
Accessible and inclusive storytelling in museums
Some useful guidelines from The Lyme Museum, which is "the first museum dedicated to exploring the lived experiences of invisible illnesses and disabilities through materiality and storytelling", they focus on storytelling in physical and virtual spaces:
"These guidelines focus on: rethinking materiality in museums, exploring art-based creative methods, creating inclusive physical and virtual spaces, and ensuring that lived experiences are amplified and celebrated.
Accessibility is not a fixed endpoint or a checklist. Instead, it’s an ongoing, evolving process that requires adaptability, creativity, and collaboration. It can sometimes be overwhelming ! Our goal is not only to model inclusive storytelling but also to provide resources that empower other institutions to follow suit. This document—and every resource we share—is a living document. We expect it to change, expand, and improve with time, feedback, and community dialogue."
More of this sort of thing please!
Art on the Frontline: Pioneering Study into Visual Literacy as Critical Security Infrastructure launched at Stockholm’s Market Art Fair.
At last month's Market Art Fair a joint initiative between Sweden's arts and defence sectors was launched. I don't know if this is because of Sweden's 'total defence' policy, but it seems like an interesting and unusual collaboration.
Swedish Psychological Defense Agency has commissioned Bildkonst Sverige (Visual Arts Sweden) to begin a landmark study into visual literacy's role in combating disinformation.
"The visual arts hold an in-depth knowledge, which is right now essential for society and our ability to defend ourselves" says Bildkonst Sverige’s Magdalena Malm. "This isn’t about art funding—it’s defense spending. Just as we once built bomb shelters, we now need to arm citizens with critical thinking against visual manipulation. In an era of deepfakes and algorithmic warfare, visual literacy is civil defense."
Five Dysfunctions of a Team
If you've not read Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team, it's a useful fable looking at team dynamics and organisational culture.
I've found it's partially or very relevant/useful in situations where the dynamics feel weird or difficult but you can't quite work out why.
Adam Thomas (who has previously unpacked the framework) shared a good visualisation to think about symptom/action/outcomes in relation to the 'five dysfunctions' on Linkedin this week.
Adam Thomas
More than half of top 100 mental health TikToks contain misinformation, study finds
A recent study has found more than half of the top 100 mental health Tiktok videos focused on mental health contain misinformation.
"People are increasingly turning to social media for mental health support, yet research has revealed that many influencers are peddling misinformation, including misused therapeutic language, “quick fix” solutions and false claims.
Those seeking help are confronted with dubious advice, such as eating an orange in the shower to reduce anxiety; the promotion of supplements with a limited evidence base for alleviating anxiety, such as saffron, magnesium glycinate and holy basil; methods to heal trauma within an hour; and guidance presenting normal emotional experiences as a sign of borderline personality disorder or abuse."
Rachel Hall
Beyond the Promise and what's next
I’ve been a bit overwhelmed (in a good way) by the response to the report, thank you to everyone who’s shared thoughts and feedback.
The first webinar ran on Monday (you can watch it back here), with two more coming up on Monday 16th June with Chris Unitt (One Further), and Monday 30th June with Tash Willcocks (TPX Impact). Do join us.
I’m also working on four series of articles for the second half of 2025, each exploring key themes from Beyond the Promise. Each series will be accompanied with a free tool to help organisations with digital readiness, alignment, decision-making, infrastructure, delivery, onboarding, and more, all available to subscribers. More on that work soon.
If you’ve not read the report yet, you can find it and the resources here. Short summaries are also available for leaders, practitioners, funders, teams, and suppliers.
Ash Mann
Zero-click searches: Google’s AI tools are the culmination of its hubris
More on Google's continuing efforts to make sure you will never leave the Google ecosystem, and taking the brazen approach to IP and citations that we've depressingly come to expect.
"A year ago, this ambition surfaced with AI Overviews, but now the company is taking an even more audacious route, layering in a new chat-based answer service called "AI Mode." Both of these technologies do at least two things: They aim to keep you on Google properties longer, and they remix publisher content without always giving prominent citations."
Ryan Whitwam
4 questions to reconnect teams around what’s real
Spotted via Neil Williams's blog. This really chimed with lots of the things I heard through the Beyond the Promise research i.e. that everyone is struggling with various degrees of misalignment. Fixing that should be the first priority for most organisations.
This post suggests some questions that might help.
- How well is the service meeting its purpose - and for whom?
- How are we delivering against that operationally?
- How do our tools and systems help or hinder?
- How well can we respond and adapt to change?
I expect that having a conversation framed by these questions will only be a good and helpful thing in most orgs.
Ayesha M.
The True Costs of Being on YouTube
Food writer, Carla Lalli Music, has written a very frank account of her experience trying to use YouTube as a promotional platform. She spent a lot of money on production, she didn't make back nearly as much in ad revenue, and it all sounds quite stressful and unpleasant. Basically - without her sponsors, it would've been a total disaster.
"In this time, I logged 18 million views, grew my subscriber base to 231,503, and grossed a total of $187,997. Some of those numbers sound big, but the costs—financial, logistical, and personal—didn’t earn out. In this newsletter, I’ll explain the hard and soft costs of doing business on YouTube, why leaving is the right move for me, and what I’m doing (for money) next.
I hope that the data about my earnings will provide useful context for anyone deciding whether to to launch or shutter a channel. Maybe my story will be validating for other professional creative people who are committed to the hustle, but not willing to go broke for their art. I know I’m not the only food video host who’s had (or is having) a similar experience. Let’s talk about it."
This section felt especially...depressing/2025, "While I’m fortunate to be in a position to attract sponsors, over time I felt trapped in a loop. I am making videos that lose money so that I can attract a sponsor to pay me the money I lost making videos that lose money so that I can attract a sponsor to pay me the money I lost …"
carla lalli music
The forgetting curve
I'm now almost 2 years into learning Swedish, I've never tried this hard to learn a language before and one of the most distressing aspects of the process is how quickly any new information just seems to fall out of my head.
It's in this context that I came across The Forgetting Curve:
"The forgetting curve demonstrates the exponential rate at which information is forgotten over time when no effort is made to retain it. It is based on a psychological theory (and later mathematical formula) originated in 1885 by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. It showed learners forget information almost immediately and can overcome knowledge loss by practicing spaced learning and knowledge recall exercises. Ebbinghaus tested his memory over various periods and came up with a visual representation of how the learned information fades over time."
Finding out about the Forgetting Curve also included the devastating finding that "studies suggest that humans forget 50% of new information within an hour of learning it. That increases to an average of 70% within 24 hours."
Anyway, it was interesting to me, it might be interesting to you as well, especially if you're trying to learn something new.
Disha Gupta
Why AI Will Not Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage
A good piece in MIT Sloan Management Review.
Just like noone ever went with a company 'because they had computers' (once they became widespread), AI will similarly stop being 'a feature' once adoption increases.
"It is tempting for a company to believe that it will somehow benefit from AI while others will not, but history teaches a different lesson: Every serious technical advance ultimately becomes equally accessible to every company. Personal computers, the internet, semiconductor fabs, blockchain technology, genetic sequencing — these technologies are no longer competitive advantages for any organization"
"AI will transform economies and lift markets as a whole, but lasting differentiation will be built on human creativity and passion."
David Wingate, Barclay L. Burns, and Jay B. Barney
Art Rate Monitor
The Art Gallery of Ontario won a bunch of awards this week for its Art Rate Monitor initiative which I missed when it was launched last autumn.
Here's something about it in Artnet, it sounds intriguing:
“The Art Rate Monitor” experience is included with the cost of gallery admission ($30) and involves visitors wearing a lanyard and wristband. The device records the user’s location across the four floors of the gallery thanks to 70 geolocation beacons attached to the walls beneath certain artworks. The wristband used is a typical heart rate monitor, worn on a black branded strap.
Once gallery-goers have concluded their visit and returned the wristband and lanyard, they will receive a free personalized report via email, letting them know their “art persona”. The report includes information like which artworks they spent most time viewing, their preferred colour palette, and which artworks raised and lowered their heart rate the most.
Digital skills courses to boost your career
A whole bunch of free short courses (mostly delivered by the University of Leeds at the moment) covering everything from an introduction to coding with python, to social media campaign design, robotics, technology-assisted decision-making, and presentation skills.
This week's consumption
I'm reading Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince which is about his recent ADHD diagnosis and other 'adventures in neurodiversity'.
I've also started Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (it's a week for books written by Robins apparently) which seems both charming and mysterious so far (20 pages in), and Elizabeth Day's Failosophy.
Stanley Tucci's Italian food exploration has popped back up, this time on Disney+, it's just as charming as it was on CNN/BBC. It's now called Tucci in Italy, but it's basically the same programme as Searching for Italy.
I read something this week that said it's 20 years since Sigur Rós's album Takk was released. Which a) made me feel very old, and b) made me go and relisten to Takk, I'd maybe forgotten just how magical an album it is. Anyway, here is a nice little documentary about the making of the album, and if you're new to Sigur Rós and/or Takk then maybe check out the film Heima which was released around the same time (I really like Sigur Rós, can you tell...):
See you in a few weeks
Thanks for reading all the way to the end. Please enjoy this nice simple website where you can create your own ambient mix of nature sounds asoftmurmur.com.
I am on holiday for a while now, notwithstanding the webinar on the 16th, and I am speaking at the DEN Conference on the 12th. But apart from that I'll (probably) be quiet for a couple of weeks.
To finish, a quick reminder that I'm a consultant who helps cultural organisations do better digital work - if it sounds like I could be useful, then let's chat.