Assignment 7: Joyce Lee (jl579)

There are many sites on the internet that allow for both amateur and professional artists to upload and share their work without having to register their own webspace. Deviantart.com or Conceptart.org are two such sites, of which I am a member. Reputation plays a large part in the system, where getting acknowledge or noticed is something everyone strives for, but at the same time, you do not want to be subject to someone's simple five-minute doodles without effort put into them.

Trust is a large issue for sites like these. User content is uploaded at the artist's discretion, and though there is a moderation team, it is impossible to check every single image uploaded every moment. Consequently, users trust other users to appropriately tag their work if there are warnings on it for gore, nudity, etc. If not, users also trust each other to "flag" an image and notify a moderator of what rules it is breaking. Users, in other words, trust others not to upload inappropriate imagery where we are 'vulnerable' (as according to the definition in class) to seeing it. The most important aspect of this system is an active flow of feedback from users, as Resnick describes.

The end result is a helpful and inspiring resource for artists - a collection of artworks of high caliber that others can critique and draw techniques from. The reward for a good 'reputation' is acknowledgment. More viewers will be attracted to your page if you have not gone around breaking rules. If you consistently produce good artwork, the number of people following your work will increase. For artists, this exposure is highly important in career searches, which many of the members are currently in the process of. This reward system inspires future involvement in hopes of accruing more viewers. Involvement in the community is expected to be long-lived: another element that Resnick stresses.

Optimistically, users will not upload inappropriate images at all, and there would be no flagging. Barring that, users will flag the right kind of images - images that don't follow the rules, are too explicit, and not images that they simply don't like. Ideally, moderators will judge to take down an image objectively, and not play favorites. Unfortunately, users can still get through the moderation team's notice with inappropriate work. If viewers do not care enough about rules to report a violation, then it remains untouched. Repeated offenders can also create new accounts, since that is not limited.