Before I get into anything else, I’d just like to make it clear that I’m initiating this discussion as a means for people to evaluate how and why they award a particular score to an image. I don’t intend it to be comment on the pros or cons of the voting system per se and so would appreciate it if, for a change, we could have a rational discussion about it without doing the usual dramas and re-treading old ground.
I think it’s pretty clear from even a cursory scan through the new images galleries that most people who are actively voting are doing so biased purely on personal preference and or experience of a particular medium rather than taking the time to consider other variables in a piece such as creativity, originality, technical achievement etc. Many people have sited in the past that they feel unqualified to comment or rate an image fairly as they do not understand the process involved in creating an image if it is out of their normal circle of activity.
I’d like to suggest that members try to take the time to familiarise themselves with possibly alien forms of art if they are intending to take an active role in the voting process. From a personal point of view, when I first started posting images here I had no experience at all with fractal design and to a larger extent, wasn’t a particular fan of it either. I remember feeling at the time that I felt I was unable to say what was a good or bad fractal as I had no idea how they were created but because I was exposed to them on a regular basis, decided it would be best to at least try and understand the process that went into them. All it took was a couple of hours on a free download of apop to quickly get some ball park point of reference on what was needed to create a good original fractal and what was little more than shuffling presets around and rendering it. If I am completely honest, I’d still say they aren’t my favourite form of art here on Caedes, but at least now I have a frame of reference to try and judge them if I get one in the voting booth.
The same theory I think can easily be transposed onto any form of art – be it illustrative, photographic, cg etc. I would hope that by trying this, people will gain a greater understanding of an artists work and vote accordingly on it rather than just dismissing something with a low token score to get if your screen. In so doing, people will hopefully also get a more balanced assessment of their work and less fluctuation in their scores. Basically – even if you cant appreciate the art in the piece; at the very least understand the efforts involved in bringing it to you.
I think it’s pretty clear from even a cursory scan through the new images galleries that most people who are actively voting are doing so biased purely on personal preference and or experience of a particular medium rather than taking the time to consider other variables in a piece such as creativity, originality, technical achievement etc. Many people have sited in the past that they feel unqualified to comment or rate an image fairly as they do not understand the process involved in creating an image if it is out of their normal circle of activity.
I’d like to suggest that members try to take the time to familiarise themselves with possibly alien forms of art if they are intending to take an active role in the voting process. From a personal point of view, when I first started posting images here I had no experience at all with fractal design and to a larger extent, wasn’t a particular fan of it either. I remember feeling at the time that I felt I was unable to say what was a good or bad fractal as I had no idea how they were created but because I was exposed to them on a regular basis, decided it would be best to at least try and understand the process that went into them. All it took was a couple of hours on a free download of apop to quickly get some ball park point of reference on what was needed to create a good original fractal and what was little more than shuffling presets around and rendering it. If I am completely honest, I’d still say they aren’t my favourite form of art here on Caedes, but at least now I have a frame of reference to try and judge them if I get one in the voting booth.
The same theory I think can easily be transposed onto any form of art – be it illustrative, photographic, cg etc. I would hope that by trying this, people will gain a greater understanding of an artists work and vote accordingly on it rather than just dismissing something with a low token score to get if your screen. In so doing, people will hopefully also get a more balanced assessment of their work and less fluctuation in their scores. Basically – even if you cant appreciate the art in the piece; at the very least understand the efforts involved in bringing it to you.
Any thoughts?