All I Want for Christmas…

As Christmas and credit crunch jostle for attention, I’ve been thinking about my highlights of 2008 in digital Manchester and beyond. Because I work with a range of arts organisations, all of whom are coming to grips with Web 2.0 technology, at the same time as continuing with their artistic work, I think I’ve seen technology adoption this year as more of a “flow” than a series of jolts. I think that’s because some of the basic underpinning technologies are now stable, and ubiquitous. 2008 doesn’t seem to have been one of those breakthrough years, more one of consolidation. At Futuresonic 2008 at the Contact Theatre in the Spring, for once I had the opportunity to catch the whole event. I think its fair to say that whereas in previous years I’ve found out about things at Futuresonic that have become mainstream a year or two later (e.g. Second Life), in 2008, the subjects being discussed were already pretty much in the mainstream. For me, this let the art strand of the event stand out head and shoulders above the music and conference offerings, good as they were – in that the theme for the art commissions was reflecting social media. Adam Bartholl’s “Chat” and “Wow” in particular were fun, geeky and complex, whereas Plan B’s “shoebox” Myspaces used lo-tech to comment on hi-tech.
I don’t think there was one overriding theme to the arts in Manchester during 2008, other than consolidation of what it’s always been good at. The fallow years between international festivals could become a disaster if the festival grows on its good start last year, yet I kind of think that independent Manchester will fill the gap. After all, the Ting Tings came out of Islington Mill to become the cities first genuine breakout artist for the best part of a decade. It is facilities like Islington Mill, far more than New Media City, that will determine the city’s artistic temperature over the next few years.
In terms of how the arts uses technology, it certainly wants to, as I helped out a number of organisations looking to update their websites during the year – yet its the speed of change, if not of the technology, then certainly of the technology-hype, that creates expectations that the arts finds hard to keep up with. After all, a show or tour or an album or an exhibition may be 18 months in the making. At what point do you invest in your RSS feed and “Second Life” presence?
Look around the city though, in its cafes and bars, and whereas wi-fi was a luxury even two years ago, it – along with 3G internet – is now commonplace. My own object of desire this year might well be the Sony Reader, but having had real problems with their software in the past, I’ll hold off, I think, until the next generation.
Literature in the city seems to have finally cottoned on to the web in a big way this year, with Rainy Day Stories offering a new way of “reading the city” and a new online literary zine from the University of Manchester’s centre for new writing. If it’s interface isn’t the most user friendly in the world, having once worked on the University’s website, I’m pretty amazed they’ve managed to do it at all – and the writing, importantly, stands out. At the Manchester Blog Awards it was clear that our bloggers are now writers, and our writers are now bloggers.
So a year of consolidation, rather than revolution – after all underlying technology can sometimes take a decade or more to find its use – and if the chill winds of recession blow through the arts in 2009, I’m pretty sure that technology will be the best protection against the storm. Final point, a friend was up seeing her parents this week and suddenly realised they were still on dial-up. Horrified, she went out and got a 3G card. All I want for Christmas then is a decent internet connection.