Creative Informatics team lead new book on DDI in creative sector

The importance of data-driven innovation in the creative industries has been highlighted in a new book.

Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries, published by Routledge, is a collection of essays edited by Melissa Terras, Vikki Jones, Nicola Osborne and Chris Speed.

The book reflects on the editors’ experiences in delivering, researching, and supporting the creative industries in Edinburgh and South East Scotland through the Creative Informatics programme, while also taking a necessarily global perspective on how the creative industries can be supported to make use of data-driven innovation and digital technologies.

Professor Melissa Terras, Design Informatics, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh:

“The Creative Industries (the place where business and the arts, culture, and heritage intersect) are an immensely important part of the UK economy, worth an estimated £128bn per year. Many creatives are innovating with digital and data, and this is especially true after the “digital shift” of COVID-19 where existing markets and revenue streams were disrupted and changed. We must do all we can to support creatives in this rapidly changing space, and this books sets out both the current state of play, and emerging challenges, including how to upskill creatives, legal aspects, the environment and sustainability, and how best to support a diverse and inclusive creative cohort when innovating with data.

There’s no doubt that the Edinburgh creative tech community is special, sitting at the juncture of a world-leading cultural city, and one with an immensely successful start up ecosystem, and we hope that the bridges we’ve built here show others how best to encourage creatives to make new digital and data driven products and services, keeping them ahead of the international game.”

Interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral issues faced by the creative industries working with digital technologies and data include sector specific challenges – for example in live events and performance, as well as sustainable practice; support for Research and Development (R&D); digital and data skills and literacies; data ethics; legal frameworks; and diversity and inclusion.

The book poses questions and illuminates challenges and opportunities in data-led approaches and collaborations that innovate to generate value for the creative and cultural industries. Accompanying each contribution is a case study that situates the issues discussed in a specific, real-world example of R&D projects that explore data-driven innovation and digital technologies in the creative industries, many of which were supported by Creative Informatics.

Data-Driven Innovation in the Creative Industries is available to purchase via Routledge, but is also available for free download in open access PDF from the Routledge website.