“The underlying concern with the Internet is not whether it will fragment our attention spans or mold our minds to the bit-work of modernity. In the end, it will likely do both. The deeper question is what can be done when we realize that we want some control over the exchange between our brains and the Web.” James McWilliams proposes an answer to that question.
Category: AUDIENCE
Report: Netflix Accounted For Half The Drop In TV Viewing Last Year
“The analyst calculated that based on an estimate that Netflix’s domestic subs streamed 29 billion hours of video last year, representing 6% of total American live-plus-7 TV viewing reported by Nielsen (up from 4.4% in 2014).”
Scenes Of Life In Ancient Egypt, Deciphered Via Crowdsourcing
“Tales of tragedy written on papyrus that lay hidden for centuries in an Ancient Egyptian rubbish dump have been revealed after being pieced together with the help of a small army of citizen scientists. The stories range from a doctor’s report on the drowning of a 12-year-old slave girl to a rendition of the Book of Exodus in the style of a Greek tragedy.”
Why Art ABout TV Shows Is Showing Up In Museums
“Museums have to change what they do and bring in more diverse audiences if they want to survive and thrive in the 21st century. Some museums are changing the look and feel of their displays, for example, making them more colorful or shortening text descriptions to appeal to a broader audience. Other times, it meant putting graffiti, comic book characters or President Underwood on display.”
Is Onstage Violence More Shocking When It’s In A Play Written By A Woman?
The current London production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed is so graphic that audience members are literally fainting in shock. The production’s director, Katie Mitchell, isn’t the only one who thinks people are reacting more strongly because the artists who put it on stage are female.
In Defense Of Small Talk: It’s Not A Hollow Waste Of Time, It’s An Important Social Lubricant
“Small talk is not wasted talk. … [It] allows strangers to make crucial first connections across demographic lines. And it’s far from meaningless. People are rebelling against it today in a misguided dismissal of social graces that seem old-fashioned, boring, or wasteful. In fact, we’ve never needed such graces more.”
Paramount Puts Hundreds Of Movies On YouTube – For Free
Paramount Pictures has launched a new channel on YouTube that allows users to watch hundreds of licensed movies, in full, for free.
Online Ticket Lotteries Have Become The Norm On Broadway
“In the past year, 16 Broadway shows have implemented digital ticket lotteries to supplement or replace in-person rush sales.”
Museum Audiences Have Less Time. So How Will Museums Adapt?
“If the lack of leisure is the fundamental problem the museum sector faces, it should address the issue directly, broadly and fearlessly. Indeed, the entire cultural community needs to accept that it makes no sense to obsess about a dwindling audience or the lack of public resources without addressing the underlying issue of leisure, and why, as a society, we have failed to make time for pleasure, learning and self-improvement.”
Is There A Case For Classical Music Radio In This Time Of Spotify And Pandora And Apple Music?
“My go-to platform is radio. Since I spend so much of my work week choosing music for other people to listen to, I take immense pleasure in consuming playlists that other humans have curated when I’m on my own time. I listen terrestrially if I’m in my car or at home and stream the audio on my phone if I’m walking or bussing.”