At the recent PatronManager Community Meeting, there was a roundtable discussion on technological literacy in the arts. Gene Carr wrote an excellent blog post for Patron Technolgy post-conference and offers a few additional insights into the need for arts managers to become more literate when it comes to technology. Here’s a link to his excellent blog post;

The Imperative of Technology Literacy

Too many times I speak with organizations where part of the staff understands the need for technology but the organization as a whole is lost.

The staff gets that, properly chosen and implemented, the use of technology can enable greater efficiency and contribute to growth. Unfortunately, I see too many executives that say that technology isn’t for them or that it is a thing for the staff to do. These are the same executives that send emails asking for reports or waste the time of their staff because they won’t take the time to learn the technology themselves.

To this mindset, I say stop being self-centered and foolish. It is your job as an executive to enable your staff to be successful. If enabling success means learning the technology in your organization just do it. By not becoming literate in technology you are turning yourself into a dinosaur. We all know what happened to them.

There is no shame in asking for help. There are tools and resources you can turn to for assistance. It is time that everyone in your organization makes it a priority to become technology literate. There is just too much at stake to avoid it any longer.