This is an article by the Taskforce Audience Data. DEN chairs this taskforce. Want to read more? Visit publieksdata.nl.
Cultural institutions are sometimes hesitant when the term ‘standardization’ comes up. “That is really unnecessary,” emphasizes Loes. “Standardization seems to be in direct opposition to authenticity, something so important for institutions. Artistic products are unique and should remain so. But every institution also has business operations, and those do not need to be unique. By standardizing business processes, you actually gain much more insight into your audience. You can use that knowledge to further develop products, tailored to the target group or a new audience you want to reach.”
Time is ticking, Loes believes. “As a cultural sector, we must prevent ourselves from lagging behind. It is better for the sector to organize itself rather than for another, commercial party to take over and eventually hold the reins. Additionally, we want to reach a broader and more diverse audience as a sector. To achieve that, you need to know who is coming, why, and where they are going. If you want to analyze that properly, you really need standards. Otherwise, analyses are unusable.”
Speaking the Same Language
In July and September, researchers, IT professionals, and people working daily with audience data will come together during two expert sessions. “We will first discuss the importance of this process: why is it wise to standardize? We want everyone to be truly convinced of this. After that, the focus will be on the process. We want to agree on a clear approach that functions like a machine so that everyone in the sector speaks the same language regarding audience information. This should ultimately result in a ‘dictionary’. In my report, I have already listed some terms. With the experts, we will test whether the process works based on those.”
Standardization is a continuous process
In the IT world, there are many ‘feature requests’, user requests for system adjustments. “How these are handled is very instructive. How do you gather wishes, categorize, and prioritize them? Taking into account limited resources and time, we can use that example well to develop a process for defining standards. And also to keep these up-to-date in the future, because standardization is a continuous process.” The sessions will be facilitated by an external party, Gyan Zondervan from The Cultivators. “That is very helpful; he brings a fresh perspective to our sector. And as a cultural sector, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Standardization has already been implemented or is being worked on in many other places. We are leveraging that knowledge.”
Simple & More Complex Terms
Loes is looking forward to the expert sessions. “I am eager to be surprised. I am very curious about which terms will be seen as the most relevant. In this phase, we will compile a mix of relatively simple concepts – think of ‘ticket’ – and more complex terms. For example, defining what you mean by a ‘digital visitor’ is quite complex. So we won’t start with that. Something like ‘genre’, the substantive categorization of a product across sectors, is also very complex. However, it would be very valuable if we could define that in the future. Many people go to the theater, cinema, museum, and library. If we can come up with categories applicable to both a book and a theater piece, we can create interesting cross-connections.”
Curious which terms will be seen as most relevant
We Just Need to Start
‘Start small to end big’: that is the principle of the first expert session in July. In parallel, we will look at how to also organizationally ensure the development of an independent standard. These two tracks will come together this fall, combining form and content, so we know where we stand.
“We can take important steps together, and that really needs to happen. Institutions often see each other as competitors, while actually, other leisure activities are much bigger competitors. Netflix, the restaurant around the corner: those are the real competitors for theaters or museums. That’s why we need to become stronger as a sector.” Standardization contributes to this, and hopefully, it will become something self-evident in the future. “When there is a VAT change, everyone updates it in their systems. When it comes to standards and definitions, you would want the same kind of authority. We are not there yet, but we can already get started. We just need to start. Take an example like Chat GPT, which was built without knowing all the questions that would be asked. When it comes to standardization, we need to start with the process, terms, and definitions. Then it will naturally grow, like an oil slick.”
Do you also have ideas or wishes about the standardization of definitions or the process? Let us know via publieksdata@den.nl.
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