This is an this as an open discussion of how users make use of (or don’t make use of) online art resources. What are online art resources good for? Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of online content providers, tools and resources for research and learning. Specifically: how do people use public online platforms for artwork search? What audiences do these platforms serve now, and why do we need them? What are the key challenges facing engagement with art online, and what do these emergent platforms need to grapple with in terms of accessibility, content, or structure?
Ellen Tani (Standford graduate student/Artsy) and I (also of Artsy) are proposing this and a few other sessions together. For this session, we’d love to interact with others involved in artwork search (in whatever capacity).
Boy, the “not making use of” part of this proposal is especially interesting to me, I must say. It’s easy (well, sort of easy) to put things online and say that you’re educating people, enabling people to educate themselves, or providing resources for educators — it’s much more difficult to see whether and how people are using what’s online.