| portraying the
individual Readings:
Think about issues of
purpose and control in the creation of the representation of a person.
The subject, the artist, and the audience each have different goals
with which they approach the portrait, and the balance that is achieved
among them shapes the portrait. How does this tension play out in the
representation of people in an online forum? Portraits In general we are so comfortable in accepting the form of portraiture that to stop and consider the motivations behind a portrait or even to accept that a portrait can in fact show much more that the idealistic concept of 'true self' or 'soul' is challenging. In Portraiture, Brilliant discusses the motivations of portraiture production at length. He considers the motivations of the sitter and the artist in producing a portrait, and the relation of the portrait to the viewer in its display. It is clear that there is a much greater element of control both in a sitter's ability to present an image of themselves and in an artist's own purpose or motivations than is usually acknowledged. These include:
"... visual image, our own and
others, interacts powerfully with the ways we come to think about
ourselves and others. Joseph Brodsky, the Russian poet gives a vivid
account of his time in a labour camp poring over badly reproduced
photographs of poets that fired up his imagination no less than their
poetry. "
Tensions in Online Portraiture I believe that the tension between subject, artist and audience is still in flux in the online forms of portraiture. This can be see in the ambiguity of classification of online portraits. Many presentations of personal data and expression are becoming available on the web. As bandwidth increases, these can become more visual and although online portraits now have the opportunity to rival offline equivalents, reflections of offline style do not seem wide spread. What then are the successful forms of online portraiture and what are the driving forces behind them? Looking at the case of an online forum, we find an environment that is almost entirely text based. Portraits arise in usage statistics and the few visualisations of user's habits available. In this environment it seems that the presentations of an individual that can be considered portraits, fall into several segregated categories. In particular, unlike many examples of offline portraits, where the needs of both the subject and the artist play out in a single piece, I feel, online either a web system can present an aspect of someone's identity (or habits) according to preset criteria or a user can offer a description of themselves, but not often both. Offline portraits are generally produced and then viewed, with a strong divide between the creative and interpretive stages. I think this boundary has become blurred in online presentations of a person's qualities, with other viewers updating elements such as ratings over time. The boundaries of how a user's identity may be expressed seen constrained in online forums. On the other hand, in an environment in which much more statistical data can be collected and stored, portraits can be displayed which could not have previously existed. Motivations Online The goals of an online forum audience seem more practical (or at least more overt) than those of offline portrait viewers. Information presented about an individual is quickly assessed for clues on credibility, personality, knowledgeability, etc.. Since these forms of online portraiture are available to all, the audience and subjects of these portraits closely overlap, as do the goals of information presentation and aquisition. Artistic interpretation is present online in two main forms, formal data visualisation and self-presentation. Online forum designers present controlled statistical information, with very little scope for artistic interpretation of an individual. Self portraits are generally limited to "about me" pages, signature lines and avatar choice in chat worlds. These are very personal presentations and are not bound to reflecting true qualities of the individual. Issues discussed in Halle's Inside Culture: Art and Class in the American Home relating to the taboo of showing a single picture are sometimes apparent here with disguised, parodied or abstract representations shown in place of actual photos. 'Painting' Web Portraits Cases in which participants in a forum can make simplistic modifications to their own representations such as text colour change, or style, do not seem to provide effective channels of expression. I think that it would be interesting to see a forum in which much more detailed and stylistic changes can be made by a user, but woven into the forum as a whole. These could be aided by someone in an 'artist' role. One example would be to present some of the personal modifications that an individual makes to the view of their screen accessible to others. It would also be interesting to explore online portraits that could be modified by others. This interaction could range from free form modifiable spaces at one extreme, to the ratings or click statistics currently offered, at the other. An online equivalent to family photo sharing linked with a forum might be an example of this. Examples of Online Portraits Visual facial images carry strong and expressive signals. However, other forms of expression can constitute a portrait as Lifelines demonstrates. Here are some examples of online portraits that I have found expressive:  Mouse traces displays actual traces of mouse position from a remote user.  Jezebel's mirror is a project for people to submit self portraits taken in mirrors online..    These screen shots are from a K10K project where users submit their own desk top images.   Examples of an online individual cryptically presenting the image of their face.  Here, Craig Robinson of FlipFlopFlyin.com created an alter ego in the form of "pixel boy", and describes himself through this character.  Portrait Sketch I decided to produce a portrait sketch based on a google search. Google only provides an outline of an individual if their name is very well know on the web, or it is unusual. I chose the 'guru' and web celebrity Jacob Nielsen, who's website useit.com provides his thoughts on design and usability.  In searching for someone's name, text that uses the persons full name is retrieved. This tends to result in formal descriptuions of  the
individual. I wanted to contrast a style that used distraction and
detail with the stark refined simplicity of google and Jacob's own
design style. By picking out words, and reforming them into my own phrases I have tried to alter the meaning of the search results to reflect my own interpretations and bias. This form of artistic sketching and wordplay has been explored by an artist who took a whole book, drew on each page (highlighting new phrases to produce a new narrative), and republishing the book (Unfortunately I cannot remember the details of this project to link to it). Below is the final sketch. i couldn't help putting a recognisable face in there (after much debate). I think it would be enhanced with the addition of colour wash, coffee cup stains or colour pencil marks: |
