Articoli taggati con ‘digital technology’
When quality measures the distance between valorization and commodification
There is a shared vision which wants that every kind of good and service can be transformed in a product. It doesn’t matter what kind of good or service is. This perspective is not so bad as it could sound to many, and above all, looking at our daily lives, it is not so far from the reality. We use and consume every kind of good and service, whether it is a cultural good, a relational good or an industrial good. Though, when we talk about cultural goods, the setting-up of a value-chain or a value-system, obviously scares humanists. Indeed, there is a point that we need to fix and to underline: there is a huge difference between valorization and commodification, and the measure of this difference is named quality. Quality of the processes trough which we transform cultural or non-cultural assets in cultural products. Skilled human resources, clever investments and proper management principles lead to a high-quality deliverable that, despite its market-driven approach, could improve knowledge, culture and social value more than a pure-cultural-driven approach. It is the same difference that measures the distance between “territorial development” and “territorial marketing”. Having a look at both the definitions remove any doubt about it. While “Territorial marketing can be defined as a process whereby local activities are related as closely as possible to the demands of targeted customers” the “Territorial development designates development that is endogenous and spatially integrated, leverages the contribution of actors operating at multiple scales and brings incremental value to national development efforts”. However, looking at the cultural sector, despite the glaring differences between these definitions, the output of these approaches could appear very similar. Both the approaches, indeed, produce cultural services, cultural goods and touristic goods that third-sector organizations, enterprises and Public Administrations offer on the market. So, what kind of variable should we use to interpret a cultural or touristic good as the result of a marketing approach or, on the contrary, of a territorial development approach? Once again, quality could be the answer.
Human interaction: the next digital revolution
In the digital age, why should we care about human interaction? The answer is neither simple nor obvious. The rise of new technologies has generated a flourishing debate about the pros and cons of a wide usage of the Internet, transforming the Web in the angels and demons’ epic battle of the 21st century. Today’s relevant role played by the Internet contributes to consider it a fundamental infrastructure of the economy, in the same way as water, electricity and mobility. The recent decision of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve strict new rules to govern broadband internet like a public utility, leaves a mark in the fight for the protection of net neutrality – i.e. the concept that all information and services should have equal access to the Internet. The huge amount of information that circulates across the online world has several implications in terms of economic activities, social challenges and cultural opportunities. Such a wide range of applications makes it difficult to identify a reliable measure of the size of the Internet economy.
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The advent of the Digital Era and, subsequently, of Media Culture has not only changed the way we think, act and interact with the world but also interfered with our more basic motor skills and the way our body operates in the outside world. Digital or not, the ability to move our body and see how others are able to do so is simply to be able to feel, to experience a tangible reality and not to be divorced from physical contact, being that a sensory or visual one. We just need to remember to learn how to do things and recognize the world as we used to do as children, through touch. Perhaps it would be better to go back to using our senses as interface, even with the invention of Google glasses.
