To be honest, I really don't know too much about the Internet. I know how it all works programming/web design wise, but I really know nothing of people on the internet. I ask because I'm launching a project that will (hopefully and God-willing) be a collection of writing, art, cool little programs and other media that can only exist on in the vast tangled mass of the Inter-tubes. My question is: Is there a point? Am I just wasting my time while I could be working on something that matters or eating cake when trying to compete with something like, say, deviant art? All opinions welcome.
Question about the Internet
- Thread starter SamuraiAndPig
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trying to understand the mess that is the internetz is admirable but foolish. think of it like Taoism, those who know it don't speak of it, so try prying info out of them, and inversely the people who you do get info out of it have no idea what they're talking about. it's like you said, a tangled mess, don't try to understand it.
Kinda depends on what you are doing the project for and what aims you have for it - if it's just for kicks then I'm sure something similar has been at least attempted before, but if you are writing a paper, say, then previous attempts might be worth looking into first.
Your aim/goal is a little indecisive, it's hard to say what you are wanting to create - do you mean that you want to create a website that has all those things incorporated into it? If so, you have to ask whether there is any demand for that sort of thing, as each part has already been done and you have to find out whether there is any need for those things to be brought together (networking sites such as Facebook sound kind of similar to the collection of things that you want to do, but people can share them amongst themselves and socialise at the same time).
If you just want to stick all of those concepts onto a single website, then it's something that has been done, and has in most cases failed due to it being too random to attract a certain audience. There are thousands of sites out there where the author has stuck on lots of different little glittery objects that they were attracted to, leading to one giant mess of a magpie nest - too many things to make sense of, each too shallowly looked into to attract a person wanting that section.
It's like marketing, you need a product, you need to work on that product properly and make it perfect, you can't get distracted by little bits and pieces along the way. If people want something on the net, they will look for that thing alone when they need it, and you need to stand out from all the other sites.
Having that one thing in a giant clump of other things will put people off, confuse them, and lead them to think that your offering is a tiny glossed over section of a larger whole, the rest of which they are not interested in and don't want to trawl through to get to what they want to see.
When the internet first started it was a place to create anything you wanted, with anything you want to show - it still is, but the net is so large now that your offering will be completely ignored if it doesn't stand out or offer what the visitor wants. The internet is much more commercial and business-like. You have to offer something that no-one else is, and it has to be something that you can do better than anyone else out there so far. And people have to want it. A page full of trinkets that are there solely because you like them won't survive out here anymore.
If you want to create a page for it's own sake, to see if you can and to show your friends things you find interesting, then there is nothing stopping you - just don't expect a lot of visitors.
Sorry for banging on, but it's really not clear what you want to do, why you want to do it, whether it's needed, and what it's final form might be. Figure these things out and you'll be halfway there.
Your aim/goal is a little indecisive, it's hard to say what you are wanting to create - do you mean that you want to create a website that has all those things incorporated into it? If so, you have to ask whether there is any demand for that sort of thing, as each part has already been done and you have to find out whether there is any need for those things to be brought together (networking sites such as Facebook sound kind of similar to the collection of things that you want to do, but people can share them amongst themselves and socialise at the same time).
If you just want to stick all of those concepts onto a single website, then it's something that has been done, and has in most cases failed due to it being too random to attract a certain audience. There are thousands of sites out there where the author has stuck on lots of different little glittery objects that they were attracted to, leading to one giant mess of a magpie nest - too many things to make sense of, each too shallowly looked into to attract a person wanting that section.
It's like marketing, you need a product, you need to work on that product properly and make it perfect, you can't get distracted by little bits and pieces along the way. If people want something on the net, they will look for that thing alone when they need it, and you need to stand out from all the other sites.
Having that one thing in a giant clump of other things will put people off, confuse them, and lead them to think that your offering is a tiny glossed over section of a larger whole, the rest of which they are not interested in and don't want to trawl through to get to what they want to see.
When the internet first started it was a place to create anything you wanted, with anything you want to show - it still is, but the net is so large now that your offering will be completely ignored if it doesn't stand out or offer what the visitor wants. The internet is much more commercial and business-like. You have to offer something that no-one else is, and it has to be something that you can do better than anyone else out there so far. And people have to want it. A page full of trinkets that are there solely because you like them won't survive out here anymore.
If you want to create a page for it's own sake, to see if you can and to show your friends things you find interesting, then there is nothing stopping you - just don't expect a lot of visitors.
Sorry for banging on, but it's really not clear what you want to do, why you want to do it, whether it's needed, and what it's final form might be. Figure these things out and you'll be halfway there.
I'd like it to be a kind of e-magazine, where a bunch of people send in work and the best of it gets put up. My biggest issue with sites like Deviant Art is there's no quality control - it reminds me of when I was in 3rd grade and I came in last on just about every event during Track and Field day, but got a blue ribbon and a pat on the back just for showing up.Blue Sonnet said:
And just to interject, I've been an editor of a poetry magazine, gotten published, ran a web domain, have a degree in Literature and extensive web design and programming education, so while I'm admittedly on a high horse at least I'm on it with qualifications.
I'd like to make something that lets anyone from anywhere showcase their art, but have some quality control. As far as it being a kind of need, well, when has art ever been a *need*? Food and shelter are needs, not paintings.
Ah, that's much clearer - it really looked like you just wanted to create a general page from your earlier post, apologies for misunderstanding.SamuraiAndPig said:
The first thing I'd suggest is to look at the competition (as you have with Deviantart), see what they are offering, if there is anything that you feel is missing and is needed. If it is to be a business or a free, social art site (like an artistic Facebook or MySpace?). There could be a market for that, sure enough. Were you thinking of a commercial online art magazine or just somewhere for people to meet and share art?
EDIT: Your blog is a lot clearer on what you'd like to do, it might be worth copy and pasting your entry on here. Just say on here what you were thinking of offering and people will be able to give advice on each part - that might be easier to tackle.
It would focus less on the social networking and more on the art itself. I actually got the idea from a project I worked on in college where myself, a professor, and few friends made an electronic version of our school's literary magazine. Just about everything I've researched on the internet pushes more for interacting and meeting people through sharing art, not appriciating the art itself. Art becomes less of a practice and more of a way to hook up, and as such, the quality suffers. The point is to get some truly skilled people together and showcase them, which will A) cause more truly skilled people to check out the site and B) cause people who have not gotten to that level to work harder and produce something of substance instead of the same tired drawings of anime characters or fanfictions. It's a pretty lofty goal but that's the kind of artsy fag stuff I'm into.Blue Sonnet said:
EDIT: Good idea. From my blog: NJNM: New Jersey New Media, I hope, will be a collection of "new media" (otherwise known as 'digital humanities') art. The name has nothing to do with where I'll be getting this from - the internet is cool like that - and everything to do with the fact that I still live in NJ. Once I get the site up, hopefully this week, I'll start advertizing and laying down guidelines.
So maybe some sort of voting system where the winner gets to be on the front page for a while, either peer voting or judging? These days a forum tends to be somewhere on the site. Articles on the different media types, maybe having one week of the competition I mentioned for watercolour entries only, then digital, etc? Invite members to submit articles on various subjects?
Also remember that the internet is BIG - search around, see what succeeded and what failed, and try to figure out what caused each site to do well or die - it'll give you an unbelievable head start on where to go from here.
Also remember that the internet is BIG - search around, see what succeeded and what failed, and try to figure out what caused each site to do well or die - it'll give you an unbelievable head start on where to go from here.