Thinking about Deviantart and web 2.0
After we’ve talked about all the facebook fail on the net and also talked a little about the problem with devianart I just wanted to right these thoughts down.
For me it comes down to this: Web 2.0 isn’t the problem per se - people are just not using the different sites for what they were made and intended. Many people want to use every site for everything.
What were the sites meant for?
facebook = connect with those people you already know and like (which is why I don’t need it - because the friends I have are all able to use those outdated things like phone and email and still like me even if they don’t know when exactly I cook pasta or go to the toilet - everyone else like colleagues and former class mates are not interesting contacts I want to waste my limited Internet time on.)
Livejournal = a place where you can choose a relatively safe pseud and “journal” - which is not exactly blogging. Because blogging seeks a wide and varied audience while journaling seeks like minded people. Which is why it is so convenient for fandom (but not only to fandom!)
.
deviantart = place for artist to get attention for their art. I felt a little strange at first to post cosplay pics there, but I don’t like most cosplay sites and networks that much and crafting is a form of creativity, so why not? So let’s put it this way: Site to present art and artistic crafts. It’s okay for me that it includes both art and fanart. Literature is a form of art so I can see why some people use it for poems, stories and even fanfic although I have to admit I never ever read anything over there. For many reasons it’s not the ideal reading place for me.
Do all people use the sides like that? Look at devianart and the answer is: no. There are people uploading 10 bad cosplay pics a day on deviantart because on certain other sites quantity is better than quality. Some use it for their holiday albums or to share doodles they drew into their exercise books right over their math homework. Is that what I expected to see on the site? Probably not.
There are places like flickr and photobucket after all. Why would I ever think to post my fanfic there? Mine is here on lj and on some fanfiction archives where I feel it belongs and the readability is much better, too.
Facebook seems to be a place where it’s more about a friends list of quantity, too.
And because everyone “seems” to want everything livejournal is connecting in strange ways, too, but overall I don’t see a change here, yet. It’s still a journaling site, although many feel pressured into lock down nowadays.
Why does the site like deviantart allow stuff like that to stay? I expect it creates traffic and revenue for their advertisers. *shruggs* It’s what happened to facebook and livejournal, I suppose. More people, more clicks, more money = So who cares what the site was for in the first place?
I really hope the Web 2.0 generation will learn that a facebook friends list is not necessarily an indicator for popularity, that 600 bad photos don’t make you an artist (I don’t exactly claim to be one either...) and the web will change again into something that isn’t all about superficial contacts and false admiration.
You don’t have to do everything, everywhere. You don’t have to share everything with everyone. And not everything you doodle has to go on the Internet. Think quality before quantity. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put up stuff you put work and thought into, because someone doesn’t like it. Look at my DA account. Not everything there appeals to the taste of elite cosplayers, but I chose the pics that I thought were the best.
I love journaling. And not everyone uses livejournal the way I do. But on livejournal and dreamwidth we can stay out of each others way and use it the way we want to without getting on anyone’s nerves because communities and “reading/friends” list form around common interest at least. Web 2.0 wasn’t a problem here up until now.
But it seems lately the generations and their way to live on the Internets are clashing:
nikkiscarlet has written a very eloquent essay about it. http://nikkiscarlet.dreamwidth.org/285367.html?format=light I hope for something like dw as Web 3.0. But let’s see where this goes.
For me it comes down to this: Web 2.0 isn’t the problem per se - people are just not using the different sites for what they were made and intended. Many people want to use every site for everything.
What were the sites meant for?
facebook = connect with those people you already know and like (which is why I don’t need it - because the friends I have are all able to use those outdated things like phone and email and still like me even if they don’t know when exactly I cook pasta or go to the toilet - everyone else like colleagues and former class mates are not interesting contacts I want to waste my limited Internet time on.)
Livejournal = a place where you can choose a relatively safe pseud and “journal” - which is not exactly blogging. Because blogging seeks a wide and varied audience while journaling seeks like minded people. Which is why it is so convenient for fandom (but not only to fandom!)
.
deviantart = place for artist to get attention for their art. I felt a little strange at first to post cosplay pics there, but I don’t like most cosplay sites and networks that much and crafting is a form of creativity, so why not? So let’s put it this way: Site to present art and artistic crafts. It’s okay for me that it includes both art and fanart. Literature is a form of art so I can see why some people use it for poems, stories and even fanfic although I have to admit I never ever read anything over there. For many reasons it’s not the ideal reading place for me.
Do all people use the sides like that? Look at devianart and the answer is: no. There are people uploading 10 bad cosplay pics a day on deviantart because on certain other sites quantity is better than quality. Some use it for their holiday albums or to share doodles they drew into their exercise books right over their math homework. Is that what I expected to see on the site? Probably not.
There are places like flickr and photobucket after all. Why would I ever think to post my fanfic there? Mine is here on lj and on some fanfiction archives where I feel it belongs and the readability is much better, too.
Facebook seems to be a place where it’s more about a friends list of quantity, too.
And because everyone “seems” to want everything livejournal is connecting in strange ways, too, but overall I don’t see a change here, yet. It’s still a journaling site, although many feel pressured into lock down nowadays.
Why does the site like deviantart allow stuff like that to stay? I expect it creates traffic and revenue for their advertisers. *shruggs* It’s what happened to facebook and livejournal, I suppose. More people, more clicks, more money = So who cares what the site was for in the first place?
I really hope the Web 2.0 generation will learn that a facebook friends list is not necessarily an indicator for popularity, that 600 bad photos don’t make you an artist (I don’t exactly claim to be one either...) and the web will change again into something that isn’t all about superficial contacts and false admiration.
You don’t have to do everything, everywhere. You don’t have to share everything with everyone. And not everything you doodle has to go on the Internet. Think quality before quantity. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put up stuff you put work and thought into, because someone doesn’t like it. Look at my DA account. Not everything there appeals to the taste of elite cosplayers, but I chose the pics that I thought were the best.
I love journaling. And not everyone uses livejournal the way I do. But on livejournal and dreamwidth we can stay out of each others way and use it the way we want to without getting on anyone’s nerves because communities and “reading/friends” list form around common interest at least. Web 2.0 wasn’t a problem here up until now.
But it seems lately the generations and their way to live on the Internets are clashing:
nikkiscarlet has written a very eloquent essay about it. http://nikkiscarlet.dreamwidth.org/285367.html?format=light I hope for something like dw as Web 3.0. But let’s see where this goes.