Build vs buy? That's possibly the wrong question
Cultural organisations often ask whether to build or buy digital tools, but that skips a more important question: are you ready for what comes next?
Hi, my name is Ash, I'm an advisor, strategist and facilitator.
For nearly two decades I have helped cultural organisations sharpen their digital thinking and activity.
I am interested in helping you make the most of wherever people and internet technologies come together.
I can support you with projects, challenges and opportunities that involve strategy, leadership, change, users, technology and innovation.
Get in touch: [email protected].
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This week's best things
From change fitness and polytunity, to Edinburgh’s innovation role and why councils should share more. Plus: taste as intelligence, AI tutors, immersive art takedowns, a reminder to join the new digital culture community, and System of a Down cover bands.
This week's best things
Venice Immersive highlights, SEO AI implications, content maintenance, knowledge systems, organising structures, bottleneck leaders, project vs product funding, disintermediation, music discovery, fortune tellers, and more.
The under-explored potential of shared infrastructure and expertise
Many cultural orgs build near-identical digital systems from scratch which are often costly, fragile, and rarely better than ‘just good enough’. What if we explored shared infrastructure for the basics, freeing up time and budget to focus on what really matters?
This week's best things
FACT’s purpose-driven restructure, pilots for a new digital cultural community, and Copenhagen’s green rewards scheme. Plus: optical corrections in design, kids on ditching phones, short-video brain effects, AI’s cultural bias, museum app woes, TikTok strikes, and the Prague Spring.
From ideas to pilots: shaping a digital community for the cultural sector
We’re shaping a new digital community for the cultural sector, moving from identifying gaps to testing small, practical pilots.
This week's best things
Anonymous curators at Apple Music Classical, a zero-click AI vulnerability, the illusion of alignment in digital projects, crowdsourced visioning at the National Gallery, Excel as esport, and what playgrounds reveal about gender and space. Plus: shoes, stoops, and Karel Gott.
The illusion of alignment
Misalignment in digital projects often hides behind surface-level agreement. Cultural norms like politeness, power imbalance, and rushed decision-making lead to fragile consensus. Real alignment takes trust, open challenge, and shared definitions before delivery, not after.
This week's best things
Chatbots, controversy, and what a viral side project might tell us about tech and trust in museums. Plus: open working, age verification, digital experiments, and AI that browses for you. Also: I’m planning a new community space and finally started Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar.
This week's best things
Why artists matter to tech, the unexpected power of boredom, and a new AI tool made for the heritage sector. Plus: trees, cybersecurity, detox camps, and chocolate bar nostalgia. I read Wired, Heffernan, and Turnbull so you don’t have to. Also I saw a play and bought more books.