Have you got The Digital Picture?
Is the digital revolution taking over the classroom? Are lecturers frantically digitising their slide collections and chucking out their projectors in favour of using digital images? Chances are they are not - yet. However, the ubiquitous rise of the digital image in Higher Education coupled with the corresponding shift away from analogue technologies over the last decade has brought to the fore-front the need for a co-ordinated effort regarding the complexities, issues and problems surrounding such a fundamental technological and, more importantly, cultural shift in the visual arts education community.
In response, AHDS Visual Arts, an independent national body serving the needs of the visual arts education community, will be launching The Digital Picture, an initiative to produce a UK-wide overview of issues, and potential solutions, relating to the effects of the digital image revolution within higher education institutes and associated organizations. Through a comprehensive consultation with stakeholders and interested parties, augmented with a coordinated survey and subsequent analysis, The Digital Picture will identify tangible problems and offer arenas for discussion and possible routes towards practical solutions.
The initial phase of The Digital Picture will attempt to clarify what the current situation is regarding the use of digital images in the visual arts education community by carrying out a UK-wide consultation exercise. A questionnaire will be sent out in late February to all potentially interested parties that will elicit both qualitative and quantitative data, i.e. it will allow participants to discuss their thoughts in an open way but will also present structured questions that can be used to develop patterns, trends and statistical analysis of specific issues. Some of the issues to be addressed include cost, standards, ownership rights, technology and training and awareness. The questionnaire will be sent out to arts institutions in early March. It will also be made available via www.thedigitalpicture.ac.uk and through targeted email groups.
Other strands to be explored during the initial phases of The Digital Picture include group and individual interviews with stakeholders; a consortium, possibly ‘virtual’, incorporating representatives from as many visual arts institutions as possible, as well as from associated bodies and external organizations such as commercial image libraries, funding bodies and copyright organizations; and research into the developments already taking place in the digital image revolution both in the UK and abroad.
So, hold on to that slide projector a little longer. The digital revolution may be here, and a little daunting, but help is on the way. The Digital Picture will, through structured, coordinated consultation, go a long way towards a cohesive overview of digital image issues taking into account the affected communities, at all levels and in all possible problem domains with a view to a considered, workable solution.
If you have any comments or ideas, or feel that you or your organization/institute should be involved in The Digital Picture, please contact Dr Mike Pringle, Head of AHDS Visual Arts, by email at mike@vads.ahds.ac.uk or by telephone on 01252 892724. Alternatively, you can write to him via Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7DS.
