Two Art Website Reviews; Updates Made and Needed

by Art Fag City on May 1, 2008 · 11 comments Events

friezemag.jpg
Screengrab AFC

It’s website review day here at Art Fag City! Today we discuss two sites only, Frieze, whose new site makes me very happy, and the Eyebeam reblog, a new media website, now trailing behind traditional art publications in what some might argue is their own medium of expertise. Let the reviews begin!

Frieze Magazine

Until recently, I’d been very frustrated by the Frieze Magazine website. Their publication is amongst my favorites, but it’s expensive as hell in the States, and their site barely had any content, there were next to no images, and it was difficult to navigate (the Way Back Machine only provides broken documentation of the website, so those who have never been will just have to take my word for it). Hello overhaul! RSS feeds. Check. Large images. Check. Reviews, news and color coded search functions. Check! Predictably, the content on the site is great, (as far as I can tell, it’s no different than what’s in the magazine). I like that they publish articles tangentially related to art, such as Different Thinking, an interview with Rob Janoff, the designer of Apple’s logo, along side art reviews such as Steven Stern’s excellent Whitney Biennial write-up. My one wish however, is that the site had a blog that updated at least twice a day and open comments, (UPDATE: you can comment in the reviews and comment sections which are web only). Site and magazine specific content gives readers a reason to use both publications differently, and while I’m clearly biased, I really believe blogs add life to otherwise largely static sites.

eyebeamreblog.jpg
Screengrab AFC

Eyebeam’s Reblog

Only two months ago I observed that I’d stopped reading Eyebeam’s reblog, though I wasn’t overly specific about the problems past the site needing a redesign. Certainly, that’s still the case, though to be clear, this would involve rethinking the blog as a whole, since on a very basic level the technology no longer meets the needs of Internet surfers. As websites such as Buzzfeed, Rhizome and even smaller operations like c-monster have shown, web curating on its own (ie simply reposting material) generally isn’t enough; editorial comment is essential. Eyebeam’s software allows rebloggers to do this, but people rarely do because it’s a lot more work and the position is unpaid.

The publishing platform itself can be described as a customized rss feed reader that allows bloggers to republish posts at the touch of a button. Knowing that a variety of source material is essential to any good reblog, optimizing the functionality of the software they’re currently working with involves some rethinking of the recent feed pruning. There simply aren’t enough art website feeds on their list to create a of successful mix of art and technology. Frieze Magazine, Modern Art Notes, Edward Winkleman, RHIZOME, Tom Moody, Art Review.com, c-monster, MTAA-RR, James Wagner, and even myself aren’t in their feeds, and there’s no good reason for this. It’s not like these sites aren’t relevant to new media artists, and a reblogger can certainly manage searching through a few more articles. In addition to this, the only social bookmarking (del.icio.us) feed remaining is the eyebeam-reblog tag, which ensures that only active eyebeam readers have any say in the content. Surely heavy del.icio.us users such as wizardishungry, 53os, eddietainment, and cory_arcangel would add something very significant to the reblog.

In the event anyone is wondering how much progress the Eyebeam reblog has made over the last two years, I’d like to point to their bloglines subscriber numbers, which have actually decreased slightly from 104 readers to 102 during this time. Granted this isn’t empirical evidence the blog isn’t as well read as it used to be — there’s more than one feed reader out there and to be honest I’m sure their traffic has grown — but there’s also a lot more people on the web. If Eyebeam wants their reblog to remain relevant, some effort to address these issues is clearly needed.

{ 11 comments }

C-Monster May 1, 2008 at 10:25 pm

the nerve!!!!

C-Monster May 1, 2008 at 10:25 pm

the nerve!!!!

C-Monster May 1, 2008 at 5:25 pm

the nerve!!!!

Steven Stern May 2, 2008 at 6:22 pm

Actually, there’s plenty of content on the Frieze site beyond what’s in the print magazine. Both the Recent Reviews and Comment sections are web-only. Yeah, it isn’t a blog per se, but the responses to the Comments at least have the potential for some almost-real-time dialogue. Though there’s not a lot of action going on at the moment, unfortunately.

And hey, thanks for the shout-out.

Steven Stern May 2, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Actually, there’s plenty of content on the Frieze site beyond what’s in the print magazine. Both the Recent Reviews and Comment sections are web-only. Yeah, it isn’t a blog per se, but the responses to the Comments at least have the potential for some almost-real-time dialogue. Though there’s not a lot of action going on at the moment, unfortunately.

And hey, thanks for the shout-out.

Art Fag City May 2, 2008 at 6:52 pm

Ack! I was wrong! I do think a blog that was updated a couple times a day would solve the problem of participation. It keeps people on the site, and the blogger could link to other parts of the magazine…

Art Fag City May 2, 2008 at 1:52 pm

Ack! I was wrong! I do think a blog that was updated a couple times a day would solve the problem of participation. It keeps people on the site, and the blogger could link to other parts of the magazine…

tom moody May 10, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Four years ago when I reBlogged for eyebeam Michael Frumin and Jonah Peretti were still there. They invented the reBlog concept and were actively recruiting a wide range of people to use it, including non-tech people. After they left, responsibility for the reBlog changed hands a couple (?) of times but staffing it with a diverse group and maintaining a certain rhythm remained a priority. Apparently the current group no longer has that interest. When you last mentioned the pruned feed list Amanda McDonald Crowley of Eyebeam said she’d “look into it”–she couldn’t commit to fixing it–and she said that potential reBloggers were welcome to contact Eyebeam, which suggests they are passively but not actively involved in recruiting new reBloggers. I hope I’m wrong about that.

It was an interesting experiment but they never added comments to the blog and as you say reBloggers rarely added their own thoughts to the feeds. You can’t chide an overworked, underpaid nonprofit with volunteer reBloggers too much for not having the “right” priorities but you would think an “art and tech” website would want a feisty, dynamic web presence. Their current feed list is mostly the other “art and tech” sites so you’re getting unironic items about rocket powered personal helicopters again.

tom moody May 10, 2008 at 8:50 am

Four years ago when I reBlogged for eyebeam Michael Frumin and Jonah Peretti were still there. They invented the reBlog concept and were actively recruiting a wide range of people to use it, including non-tech people. After they left, responsibility for the reBlog changed hands a couple (?) of times but staffing it with a diverse group and maintaining a certain rhythm remained a priority. Apparently the current group no longer has that interest. When you last mentioned the pruned feed list Amanda McDonald Crowley of Eyebeam said she’d “look into it”–she couldn’t commit to fixing it–and she said that potential reBloggers were welcome to contact Eyebeam, which suggests they are passively but not actively involved in recruiting new reBloggers. I hope I’m wrong about that.

It was an interesting experiment but they never added comments to the blog and as you say reBloggers rarely added their own thoughts to the feeds. You can’t chide an overworked, underpaid nonprofit with volunteer reBloggers too much for not having the “right” priorities but you would think an “art and tech” website would want a feisty, dynamic web presence. Their current feed list is mostly the other “art and tech” sites so you’re getting unironic items about rocket powered personal helicopters again.

Art Fag City May 11, 2008 at 10:14 pm

I mean, I do wonder what the solution to this might be since you’re right – you can’t get mad at volunteer bloggers for not donating enough of their time. Certainly, adding more feeds, but, well, it just doesn’t seem like the web is priority at all. I guess that’s fine; maybe they focus on their research labs and leave the web stuff alone (a loss for the web community, but one I think we’ve already noticed). Whatever the case though, since the reblog is the face of the organization, it does need addressing. It’s a bit of a liability for them right now.

Art Fag City May 11, 2008 at 5:14 pm

I mean, I do wonder what the solution to this might be since you’re right – you can’t get mad at volunteer bloggers for not donating enough of their time. Certainly, adding more feeds, but, well, it just doesn’t seem like the web is priority at all. I guess that’s fine; maybe they focus on their research labs and leave the web stuff alone (a loss for the web community, but one I think we’ve already noticed). Whatever the case though, since the reblog is the face of the organization, it does need addressing. It’s a bit of a liability for them right now.

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