Explore: Digital and tech

Head of Digital Media
V&A Museum

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Time Code INTERVIEW WITH KATI PRICE
00:02 My name’s Kati Price and I’m head of digital media at the Victoria and Albert Museum and I work within the commercial and digital development team.
00:10 So I look after everything to do with the museum on-line. So that’s things like websites and social media but also apps and me and my team, we look after developing digital products and services and experiences, so that we can bring all this amazing stuff within the museum to life on-line.
00:30 I would be looking for people with skills in digital media that span the whole spectrum. Digital media’s really, really broad, so on side you’ve got technical skills, so on my team I have a whole bunch of technical people who have expertise in coding, on the back end  and the front end of big systems that we use to get all the content out there. Then we have the people who write the content and edit the content and produce the content. So that’s people who are writers or producers or creatives and we also have people who are much more on the project management side of things, as well as production and then, in terms of social media, people who understand to get messages to the world at large in a really exciting and compelling way.
01:19 The best thing about working at the V&A is the fact that we have seven miles of galleries, full of the most incredible things, objects, stories, that you can imagine and every day you can wander a different route around the building and you encounter new objects and new people as well. There’s some amazing experts here and some brilliant stories and objects that I keep uncovering every day I work here. It’s wonderful.
01:47 When I was at school I knew I wanted to work within art and design. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a practitioner and so I thought long and hard about doing an art foundation. But I was also, at the same time, very interested in social sciences, particularly in geography and anthropology. So I decided I would do geography and anthropology, to start with, and then see what happened next and I kind of improvised as I went along, if I’m honest. After doing my BA, I then applied for an MA in history of design, which is a course that’s run between the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art and so 14 years ago I did that MA and that then opened up a whole new world to me, of how I could combine my interest in social sciences and in communications with working in the design sector, which I’ve worked in ever since. And it’s eventually let me full circle back here.
02:50 Having the skills to understand and anticipate other people’s needs and then seeing how you can help plug those gaps or get people trained up in certain areas. So communication skills are critical and being able to translate what can be quite complex technical things into really simple language and to get people to understand how digital media can be part and parcel of their daily sort of working life. So not an added extra, but actually a really important channel for them to use in their everyday life. So being tenacious, being good with people, being good at communicating, is really important, as well as the other things like technical skills or editorial skills as well.
03:37 If you wanted to do my job, I’d say keep an eye on what’s going on in the world, in terms of digital media. The landscape’s changing massively. There’s new technologies, new social media channels emerging daily. Keep on top of those, experiment with them, play around with them. If you can find new ways to talk about objects and the world at large, through new digital channels, you can create a whole portfolio of things that you can show anyone, if you were to come to an interview at a place like the V&A or anywhere. But there’s so much opportunity now to actually showcase what you can do on-line, that it’s a really exciting thing to explore and I’d recommend anyone does that, from just simple things like blogging to doing more sophisticated things like coding etc or writing, just writing for the love of it. But using that as a way to showcase your skills is a really, you know, easy thing to do and a really compelling one when you’re in an interview situation.
O4:37 END

 

“There’s some amazing experts here and some brilliant stories and objects that I keep uncovering every day I work here. It’s wonderful.” After a degree in geography and anthropology, Kati went on to study history of design. She now heads up the museum’s digital team and is responsible for websites, social media and apps, and for developing digital products, services and experiences.

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The UK average salary is £29,813

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41
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There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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45%  male 
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The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

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? Advertising and public relations directors plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate the advertising, public relations and public information activities of an organisation.
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Entry is generally via career progression from related occupations (e.g. Advertising Accounts Manager, Public Relations Officer) and although there are no pre-set entry standards, in practice most advertising and public relations directors hold a degree. Off- and on-the-job training is provided.
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  • Reviews and revises campaign strategy in light of sales figures, surveys, etc. and takes appropriate corrective measures if necessary;
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  • Directs the arranging of conferences, exhibitions, seminars, etc. to promote the image of a product, service or organisation.
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