Digital Platforms for Craft in the UK and China

创意经济是英国和中国的关键增长动力和经济领域。社交网络、搜索引擎、在线市场和内容分发等数字平台有助于在线上和线下产生新的产品和服务。对于那些关注实物的人来说，尤其是在手工艺和视觉艺术领域，数字平台通过第四次工业革命提供了机会，在这场革命中，实物生产和数字生产之间的关系变得模糊了。例如，数字平台通过使用新材料和生产技术提供创新机会，促进更多和更紧密地接触市场和客户，并提供机会让客户更多地参与设计过程。因此，数字平台是推动英国和中国创意经济增长的关键。尽管英国和中国拥有独特的文化遗产和传统，不同的经济、社会和政治背景，以及不同的数字基础设施和法规。数字平台的实施、使用和杠杆作用不可避免地与英国和中国不同。首先，英国和中国在文化和遗产方面存在根深蒂固的差异，这将影响创意经济体的惯例和生产方式和消费方式，从而使用不同的数字平台来支持它们。其次，各国的互联网基础设施和使用政策存在显著差异。例如，推特和脸书等社交媒体在英国无处不在，与QQ和微信等中国社交媒体平台形成鲜明对比。同样，中国淘宝上流行的手工艺品市场，与英国流行的NotOnTheHighStreet和etsy.com等手工艺品市场形成了鲜明对比。第三，不同文化对社交媒体等数字平台的使用存在差异，这可能反映在创意经济中对数字平台的使用上。最后，城市和农村地区在数字包容性方面存在差异，这在英国和中国是不同的，这将影响数字平台的可能使用和吸收。虽然数字平台被用于创意经济部门，但到目前为止，研究兴趣集中在生产或消费数字内容的部门。例如，游戏、音乐和媒体制作行业，其中包括对英国和中国行业的比较。然而，数字平台在涉及实物生产、消费和档案的文化领域的使用还没有得到很好的研究，尽管手工艺作为创新经济和更广泛行业的创新驱动力的重要性。该项目将直接解决英国和中国在手工艺行业使用数字平台和潜力方面缺乏研究的问题。

The Creative Economies are key growth drivers and economic sectors for both the UK and China. Digital platforms such as social networks, search engines, online marketplaces, and content distribution help to generate new products and services both online and offline. For those concerned with physical objects especially in the craft and visual arts sectors, digital platforms provide opportunities through the 4th industrial revolution where there is a blurring between physical and digital production. For example, digital platforms provide opportunities for innovation through using new materials and production techniques, they facilitate greater and closer access to markets and customers, and provide opportunities to include customers more in the design process. Digital platforms are therefore key to enabling growth in the Creative Economies in the UK and China. This is despite the fact that the UK and China have unique cultural heritages and traditions, different economic, social, and political profiles, and divergent digital infrastructure and regulations.Digital platforms are inevitably implemented, used, and leveraged differently the UK and China. Firstly, there are deep rooted differences in culture and heritage between the UK and China which would affect conventions and methods of production and consumption in Creative Economies which would make different use of digital platforms to support them. Secondly, there are significant differences between countries' internet infrastructure and policies of use. For example, social media such as Twitter and Facebook are ubiquitous in the UK in contrast to Chinese social media platforms such as QQ and WeChat. Similarly, popular craft marketplaces such as those on taobao in China contrast with craft marketplaces such as NotOnTheHighStreet and etsy.com which are prevalent the UK. Thirdly, there are differences in different cultures' use of digital platforms such as social media which may be reflected in the use of digital platforms in the Creative Economy. Finally, there are differences in digital inclusion between urban and rural areas which are different in the UK and China and which would have an impact of the possible uses and uptake of digital platforms.Whilst digital platforms are used across Creative Economy sectors there has to date been a concentration of research interest in those sectors which produce or consume digital content. For example, games, music, and media production sectors, which have included comparisons between the UK and Chinese sectors. However, the use of digital platforms in cultural domains which involve physical object production, consumption, and archival are not well researched despite the importance of craft as a driver of innovation in the Creative Economy and wider industries. The project will directly address this lack of research in the use and potential of digital platforms for craft sectors in the UK and China.