Rewiring the Arts Organization Technology Planning for Arts Organizations Joseph Matuzak Technology - it's one of those things that most arts administrators basically don't want to deal with. It keeps changing, what we have keeps getting out of date, it seems to eat up immense amounts of time and money, and, worse, it's something that many of us simply don't understand at all. What's worse, in these days when the World Wide Web seems like the only thing that people talk about, dealing with technology is pretty much unavoidable. For an arts administrator, there are a lot of factors that are affected by what technology you have, and how it's deployed. For example, technology changes the way that people do their jobs, and it often changes the interpersonal dynamics of the office.
Some people are happy and comfortable with it.
Some are intimidated and frustrated. As administrators, of course, our job is to facilitate getting things done, so technology can be a wonderful asset, a pain in the posterior, or, more often than not, both. Quite often, it leaves that administrator quaking and quivering, or in a total state of denial. Planning for your technology needs is really not all that difficult, and it's something that can have positive side effects within your organization by encouraging team-building, information sharing. I can also build redundant skills so that if staff members leave, at least some of their technological expertise stays behind.