Digital Culture Index: Population Production of Photo and Video

Blurring the lines between consumption and production, technology impacts the way we interact with culture.  Rates of publication of creative content online can provide insight on how regions engage with digital cultural content. To get a grasp on these patterns in a creative momentum project regions we have developed the ‘Digital Culture Index’ which measures levels of publication of video and photo content on two digital platforms in the partner regions.

Digital Culture

We use data on the number of videos uploaded to YouTube and images uploaded to Flickr as our core indicators in the Digital Culture Index. Flickr and YouTube are two of the world’s biggest platforms for the sharing of cultural content. We present the results by year (2012 to 2016) and by quarter (Q1 2012 to Q2 2017).

Variations

While the extent varies, all of the regions show a strong active participation in the production and sharing of creative digital content online. North East Iceland emerges at the top of the Digital Culture Index and the West of Ireland emerges as the second best performing region overall. The results do not indicate these regions are leaders in the production and sharing of online creative digital content, but that they are most active on these two platforms comparatively across the five a creative momentum project regions.

Testing methods

The analysis should be understood as a pilot method testing how engagement with digital cultural content in peripheral regions might be measured. It is based around just two indicators and data from other platforms and types of cultural context could be introduced to future approaches. The index aims to help open debate on how to refine methods used to evaluate the creative sector in peripheral contexts.

Changes in context

Overall, the Digital Culture Index results show variability over time and a downward trajectory. Rather than indicating a reduction in digital content production and online sharing this perhaps points to the use of a wider range of digital content platforms by producers of online photo and video content.

Read the full report here: Digital Culture Index: Population Production of Photo and Video