Assess and Benchmark your Digital Presence
The first step to making changes to your digital presence is to assess where you are. Once you understand your situation fully, you can make strategic decisions about where to invest and make improvements.
This digital assessment tools takes the perspective of how web users experience your web content – and where. Since 2014 it has been tested in numerous workshops with performing arts presenters, First Nations cultural centres, tourism operators and visual artists.
This version was updated in September 2021. It is specifically designed for performing arts presenters.
This tool applies no matter the size of your organization, or whether you have staff or are volunteer run. It is for any organization that has a website or maintains event listings online. As such, it can be used by any organization that produces any kind of event.
Download the self-assessment updated on September 15, 2021. Created by Inga Petri, Strategic Moves. Published under Creative Commons license BY SA 4.0.
Digital_Assessment_Tool (English)
Evaluation_Numerique (Français)
Outil d’auto-évaluation de la présence numérique des organismes diffuseurs d’art. (With thanks to the Puppetry Arts Digital Evolution project for French adaptation.)
More information about How to Undertake Organizational Digital Assessments
It specifies seven areas of assessment:
- Website backend
- User experience
- Amplifying
- Cross platform
- SEO/SEM
- Social networks
- Analytics
Click on each image to view larger
Click on each image to view larger
In each area there are four questions that are rated on a scale from 1 to 5. A rating of 1 equals poor/low and 5 equals excellent/high. If an entire area or question simply does not apply, they are zero rated. Once all questions have been answered the scores are added up for each section as well as totaled. Then the participant turns to the “evaluating your score” page for an answer key for both the individual areas and the overall score. This assessment is an opportunity to consider whether the time is right to re-evaluate the extent of their digital presence based on how the web is used in their community.
With the self-assessment results in hand, users can determine which areas to focus on. They may decide that they are stretched too thin digitally. By reducing their digital footprint in some ways, they might be better able to focus on the areas that give them the greatest return on their investment.
Benchmark your own self-assessment
We have used this self-assessment in numerous workshop. This current version has been used in work with arts presenting organization in the Northern territories, Atlantic region, BC, Manitoba and Ontario between fall of 2020 and 2021. The result is this national benchmark that any arts presenting organization can use to compare their own self-assessment.
The Benchmark is based on about 60 participating organizations. It makes clear that by and large there are few organizations that score themselves highly. Highest scores on average relate to the use of social media networks, and the basics of website development.
Any aspect related to how to make the most of the way the contemporary web, the semantic web or web 3.0 work, in particular related to enhancing discoverability of content have been rated poorly, if at all.
Click on each image to view larger
Click on each image to view larger
Download the PDF: