Participation, contribution, amateur practices: the contribution of digital

The digital space allows both to invent new forms of creation but also to disseminate, easily and without intermediary, its own cultural production. Digital practices are therefore not just a simple access to culture through digital: they are extremely diverse and highly participatory, they generate a very abundant supply, which is no longer only produced by professionals working in official channels.

The digital world consecrates the practices of amateurs by giving them an unparalleled capacity of diffusion (organization of events on social networks, sharing of their cultural production) but also by facilitating their access to creative software (music, photo, video editing) and many resources.

For example, the platform Numeridanse.tv, coordinated by the Maison de la Danse, is a unique video collection for both amateur and professional dancers. Recently, we have seen the emergence of more massive digital initiatives in artistic and cultural practices (rehearsals by videoconference, access to masterclasses, participatory projects).

A titre d’exemple, l’application Danse l’Europe ! permet à chacun de s’approprier une chorégraphie et de partager une expérience artistique avec des personnes des quatre coins de l’Europe.

Le numérique a également permis le déploiement des créations des communautés de fans, comme en témoigne le développement des fanfictions, œuvres de passion et d’intelligence collective.

Les outils numériques renouvellent ainsi non seulement les formes et les formats, mais aussi les modalités de l’émergence des talents. Le développement des réseaux sociaux et des communautés en ligne s’est ainsi accompagné de l’émergence d’acteurs prescripteurs de tendance, d’influenceurs. Les identifier et les mobiliser est un moyen de proposer à leur audience de nouvelles modalités d’échanges autour de l’art et de la culture, d’amener ce public vers des offres et des lieux culturels, voire de faire émerger un nouvel espace de création et de recherche. 

Communities have transcribed, inventoried and documented scientific approaches to heritage through Participatory Organ Inventory, the project Furry will or the PCI Lab.  In the same way, the French Dictionary collects in a participatory way the richness of spoken French within the francophone space.

These approaches to networking and digital common spaces are particularly important to fuel research. They facilitate large-scale, national or international exchanges and allow knowledge to be increased by associations and citizens.

From an expert role to community animation

This is a paradigm shift for some professionals in the cultural sectors, whose role as an expert, tasked with identifying talent, disseminating and transmitting knowledge, is deeply shaken. Their role, without disappearing, evolves towards that of specialist able to animate communities whose support reinforces their impact on audiences.

It is also a paradigm shift for the Ministry of Culture, whose policies have historically been designed to respond to the scarcity of cultural offerings, and thus focusing on the development of cultural infrastructure and the reduction of barriers to access to culture.