Online Networks

The presentations last week were very well done. I like to think that we stick to what we know, and I can say that I know very little, or nothing about aboriginal art or internet art as Guglietti (2010) highlights in her paper. Internet art is a great way for artists to showcase their talents across the web, and gain recognition. One can always jump the gun with things like technology; sometimes being on the internet doesn’t mean that you are present there. I think the largest indicator of a website being successful online is the work that is put into maintaining the site and keeping people engaged. Some of the websites were visually awing but they lacked incoming traffic for quite a while. Guglietti made reference to some of the aboriginal art being online as “remarkable” because of the constraints the Aboriginals dealt with accessing technology, being isolated, and being low income and still committing to such a task. Does Aboriginal art not have a presence because we cannot capitalize on it? Who will benefit? What incentive is there to learn about this type of art?

As much as we use the internet to navigate, or watch the news channels for the ‘biggest’ news there is a method to what we are absorbing – and it is called capitalizing media. The book made a really good point in Chapter 6. It said “the concentration of global media ownership pursues open markets and is tied into the mantra of the global economy: expand or die” (Jackson, Nielson & Hsu., 2011 p126). This would elaborate on the fact being in the market does not guarantee that you will grow in that market. The book uses this statement when it is talking about need for media systems to go international to have a media presence. I felt that Aboriginal internet art could also be connected on a grander scale on the internet since it is so hard to find locally- going national, or international would only help networking and getting more exposure (ie: keeping people interested).

I feel as if having an online community is a great idea. Being the educated, tech savvy group we are (or I would like to think!) online communities inspire creativity and ideas that may work better than the norm. Not only are they great for sharing new information, but they are great for finding people of similar interests. Having access to the internet through our computers, laptops, and mobile devices allow us to not only enjoy what we are seeing, but it allows us the opportunity to participate (Allocca, 2012).

Kevin Allocca’s (2012) TED talk made a reference on what makes material on the internet go viral or gain exposure. This Trends Manager with YouTube states that this new media has made a new culture where anyone who has access can make their own popularity. I can list a number of blogs or news columns I check out daily because the bloggers or authors have me hooked! I have ownership in the things that I like and this is why I follow them. I am passionate about certain topics and feel comfortable enough to challenge an opinion that might be different from mine from time, to time.

Allocca (2012) also made mention of tastemakers. This was a term I was not familiar with but it means exactly what it says – tastemakers introduce us to new and interesting things and bring them to a larger audience. For instance Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, and my Facebook page is where I go to find out ‘cool’ new posts or video’s that are shared by friends that are passed on to get watched.

I think online communities are growing, and will continue to grow as far as they possibly can with the technology that we have today. Online communities are a great way to share ideas but it also has its consequences. One of them is maintenance which is difficult for some people to encourage because it is timely, but crucial to getting exposure. Another consequence could be that the communities can foster ideas that are subjective and/or incorrect. Sometimes the information that we are getting on these online communities is incorrect. When you have a participatory audience you must ensure you have time to maintain and ‘clean’ out your site.

I think internet art is an excellent concept and I think we must help put some thought into why some events make their way into circulation rapidly while others lag behind (Jackson, Nielson & Hsu., 2011).

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