The internet is brimming with opportunities for individuals to actively take part in. Online communities in particular allow for users to discover new roles, share knowledge and opinions with others about common interests and build networks across multiple online environments. One such community known as
DeviantART demonstrates the potential benefits of being part of an online community in its many facets, as well as the downfalls that its online society is vulnerable to.
DeviantART targets the interest of art in its many different forms. Once becoming a member, users are provided with their own webpage which they can then upload their artworks to. These art pieces can range from digital paintings to jewellery pieces, choosing from a wide range of categories supplied when progressing through the submission process. In turn, other members are able to leave comments on the artworks, giving opinions and constructive criticism where needed. These interactions are however only the most basic use of the online community, for as the community has evolved over the years; new tools have been implemented and unexpected developments have occurred.
This online community presents new roles for members as they begin to discover other activities that they can become involved in. Users are able to ‘favourite’, buy, create a wish list, and most recently ‘collect’ other member’s artworks. Users are also able to ‘devwatch’ other artists so that they are able to see when the member submits new content to their webpage. Users then begin to socially network with one another, finding others who share similar artistic tastes as their own and commenting on each other’s work to encourage improvement and creative practise. Artists have also been known to collaborate with each other on artworks, either drawing and colouring separately or submitting linework to their webpage for others to complete. Artists thus because active participants and content creators within the online community, submitting art pieces to benefit both the artist and other members.
DeviantART also provides other tools which allow artists to be engaged within the art community. The DeviantART shop permits artists to sell their artworks online to other users in a variety of formats. Depending on what type of account a user has, artists can receive a considerable amount of money from their sales. The Chat and Forums also allow for communication among members and coordinators, discussing both trivial and serious issues, from praising work to placing job offerings for artists. The News section is also an area where any member can submit news for the public community to read.
While DeviantART allow artists to network and communicate with one another, there are others to purposely use these mediums to disrupt the community and its users. Individuals are able to create accounts which they use to spam areas that are open to all members, while others leave negative messages to artists they are not in favour of. While the DeviantART community is able to report these instances and have such members blocked, this does not stop them from creating new accounts and continuing their behaviour. These are always the possible problems that can arise when the community allows all users to share their knowledge freely in the online environment.
Regardless of this, DeviantART continues to thrive as a community, with new members and artworks being uploaded regularly to share with others. It is unknown whether DeviantART will adopt new media in the future, such as tagging which has not yet been considered. However whatever path the community takes, it will hopefully continue to grow and aid artists for years to come.
The internet is brimming with opportunities for individuals to actively take part in. Online communities in particular allow for users to discover new roles, share knowledge and opinions with others about common interests and build networks across multiple online environments. One such community known as DeviantART
5 comments:
I have deviantART in my example too.
It's a great community. I set up my first art account there in 2000/2001. At the moment, I'm probably on my 3rd account.
In regards to your DeviantART blog; what you don't discuss is the level of quality on deviant art. Having an account myself and regularly visiting the site, I can confidently say that a lot of poor quality armature works submitted. I understand that the very aim of DeviantART is to provide a platform for all levels of artists to discuss and collaborate, but i feel that DeviantART could go so much further if they had a higher quality standard. In saying this I realise that it would be very difficulty to have and police agreed levels of quality.
In looking for a collaborated artistic network of higher quality I came across an organisation called customize.org This organise works on a similar level to DeviantART however focuses on design and art around desktop customization. What made this site so interesting and inspiration was the level of quality. It offers everything similar to DeviantART but does it in a more organised matter with tags, colour themes, discussions, rss feeds, how to tutorials and links to other related site including DeviantART. Through research on the site, it explains that the popularity and ranking is assessed through it 100 000 members. It may be due to the level of quality of the members that in turns determines that quality of content. However what must be kept in mind is the target audience of each site. From the surface DeviantART seems to be aiming towards armature artists where as customize.org is aiming towards more skilled artist and designers. Thus the level of quality is different.
Thank for an interesting blog- I look forward to reading more.
Hey lara,
Thanks for your comment, I can totally see where you're coming from. I know theres a lot of amataur works on DeviantART, but I believe that DeviantART allows amataurs to show their level and get help to aid them grow their artistic talents. I prefer to see DeviantART as a online journal, because otherwise I don't see why they would have a scraps section for not-so-perfect work.
If you're looking for a high-quality art site, GFXartist may be a place to look. As I discussed in a later journal entry, there are different valves behind online communities which relate to user needs. GFXartist regulates the standards of art submitted on their site so theirs a lot of high-quality artworks there. It all depends on what you plan on getting out of an online community.
Hey tash
I agree with your statement that DevieanART is a journal in a sense that it is a sort of 'visual diary'.
I originally actually saw DevianART as more of a attempt to be a portfolio- a display of your best works. This however raises another question-how did i originally come to this conclusion?
After revisiting DeviantART from a different angle, this conclusion may of been drawn from a couple of things:
- the advertisement of buying prints despite the poor skill level
-other deviants' poor comments
-lack of feedback due to poor or no popularity
After looking at a particular well designed work Storm by ~3tx as well as poorly developed work Zadr is everywhere by ZADRadar's, that comments, if any, are generally not constructive. Coming from a visual arts background comments like "cool" are poor and mean very little. From the knowledge gained from the KCB201 unless you are a consistent active participant or popular, you won't receive any constructive feedback or network contacts at all. If you are not popular- you are part of the long tail and will subsequently not get notice.
To improve comment quality to create improve art works, they could provided tutorials or tips on how to comment more effectively.
Thank you for GFXartist link, i had previously never heard of this site. After exploring the site for several minutes I have concluded that this is the next up from DevianART due to: encouraging high quality works, daily voting-to achieve a outcome, fewer categories, more constructive feedback, interface design, related and helpful news and separation of members from elite and tutorials.
Although in my opinion GFXartist is more useful to the artist, they both have a long way to go before they become a important tool to the artist. They both however are effective in encouraging individual creation and sharing, while promoting the creative community.(and maybe that's its real aim)
I apologies for the long comment but thank you for replying.
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