19 January 2016

Call for papers: "Digital Killed the Video Stars: Digital Technologies, Sustainable Audience Engagement and Better Organisation in the Cultural and Creative Industries"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Environmental Policy and Decision Making.

Cultural heritage plays a fundamental role in human development as it contributes to building up individual and collective identities (European Commission, 2007). Recent approaches to cultural heritage recognise it as a "resource for a sustainable Europe" (Council of the European Union, 2014), and growing scientific evidence highlights the contribution of cultural heritage to economic growth and social cohesion.

As digital technologies gain momentum, digital art provides cultural organisations with new opportunities for developing sustainable models of engaging with greater audiences (Wands, 2007). The digital age has revolutionised our habits, behaviours and expectations. Digitisation is a process that impacts on identities and cultures and transforms the shape of the knowledge we will transmit to future generations as well as the means by which we can interact with it.

The dissemination and valorisation of cultural outputs requires new production and consumption modalities (Hirsch, 2000). It is important to foster creative and innovative approaches, including development of new tools and methods for the preservation of cultural heritage and its transmission to future generations (inter alia, Flew and Cunningham, 2010).

Cultural asset digitisation offers new settings for the engagement of new audiences in novel ways. New technologies can foster awareness of the importance of cultural heritage and new audience engagement. Furthermore, the adoption of new technologies offers innovative opportunities and dynamic managerial perspectives for cultural organisations and tourism. New technologies empower different types of users to engage with cultural digital resources.

Thus, environmental policy and decision making are required to set the right institutional context in which cultural organisations can operate and within which cultural users can interact. It is therefore relevant to offer a comprehensive view of institutional context and the associated consequences for sustainable tourism and cultural heritage management associated to digital art.

Digital art can therefore improve accessibility to cultural heritage, overcoming barriers that can be either physical or intellectual. Through art digitisation, in fact, the artistic content of artefacts can be delivered to young generations. Innovative ways of interacting with cultural organisations can emerge, and a sustainable interaction with the cultural artefact could lead to a new model of art consumption (Coblence et al., 2014), which would not only consist of passively visiting a museum but also engaging in innovative ecosystems of activities (Schaffers et al., 2011).

This special issue aims to gather debates – both theoretical and empirical works – addressing how technological changes and new business models determine social change and human resources development, foster policy changes, support new organisational models and ultimately lead to better sustainability.

Selected references:
Bauman, Z. Culture in a Liquid Modern World, Wiley, 2011 Bustamante, Enrique. "Cultural industries in the Digital Age: some provisional conclusions." Media, Culture & Society 26.6 (2004): 803-820.
Coblence E., Normandin F., Poisson-de Haro S. Sustaining Growth through Business Model Evolution: The Industrialization of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1986–2012), The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 44(3), 2014
Council of the EU (2014): Conclusions on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe and on participatory governance of cultural heritage. May and November 2014.
Flew, T., and Cunningham S.D. Creative Industries after the First Decade of Debate. The Information Society 26 (2): 113–123, 2010.
Hirsch, P.M. Cultural Industries Revisited. Organization Science 11 (3): 356–361, 2000. Howkins, J. The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas. Penguin Global, 2001
Schaffers, Hans, et al. Smart cities and the future internet: Towards cooperation frameworks for open innovation. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011. Throsby, David. The economics of cultural policy. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Wands, Bruce. Art of the digital age. Thames & Hudson, 2007.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Sustainable business models and organisational change for cultural organisations
  • Digital art for digital museums
  • Organisation and management of virtual museums
  • Advances in human resources management in creative and cultural institutions
  • Multicriteria assessment of environmental policy/ecological economics/technologies for cultural heritage
  • Stakeholders' role in environmental policy/ecological economics/technology implementation in culture and cultural heritage
  • Decision making for future environmental technology/policy/management strategies in cultural and creative industries
  • Policy for organisational change in museums
  • Audience engagement through digital art and new technologies
  • Future scenarios and global consequences
  • Case studies analysis and practices

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 15 February, 2016
Notification to authors: 30 June, 2016
Final versions due: 30 September, 2016

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