DeviantArt

Case Study

By Sarah O’Brien
 We Media
• DeviantArt (dA) is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made
artwork which has been around since August 7 th 2000. It provides a place for any
artist to exhibit and discuss their own work and others.
• The art form is divided into categories including photography, digital art, traditional
art, literature, Flash, filmmaking, skins for application.
• DeviantArt relies entirely on the internet and wouldn’t function without it. It uses The
site includes: News pages, Forums, Groups, Shops, Critiques section, Chat rooms.
Members can write Journal entries that appear on their pages.
• You can also upgrade your account from basic to Premium Member, giving you the
opportunity to do more, such as create polls, use Journal Skins/CSS, create a
Portfolio, use the Critique feature, view more deviations per page, customize your
page, and even become a Beta Tester.
• Although the idea of deviantArt is original, the technologies they use are not as many
other sites already used things such as chat rooms and forums.
 Free Speech
• The site is very open with it’s freedom of speech and even has a
critiques section where people can give review others artwork.
• It’s users can upload pretty much anything they want.
• The only thing that is blocked is images containing nudity.
• There is some hierarchy as they offer an account known as a
Premium Member which the members have to pay for. The
advantages of this account are more formatting for profiles, portfolio
function, custom journal css, widgets, more watchers, more
networking with other artists, no advertisements on the gallery,
better print account, set your own prices for your own artwork.
 Institutions
• When dA was launched in 2000 it was originally
part of the Dmusic Network.
• The site grew because of it’s unique offerings to
artists.
• 8 months after it was first launched, in 2001
deviantArt became incorporated and is now
known as [Link].
• dA competes with big media institutions because
it is unique, offering amateur artists the chance
to share there work with the world, sometimes
copyright free and also gives them the possibility
to sell their work.
 We Think- New Media
• On the website all types of art work are shared. Anyone can
upload work which they have created. Anyone can also
comment on any art work whether if it is to give positive and
negative feedback.
• Any users can also buy and sell their artwork. It can be
bought buy an ordinary person who likes the work or an
institution.
• There is advertising on the website but it is not for dA
products.
• The audience for this website is generally people who are art
students or amateur artists but there is a big range of people
who just search the site and do not upload their own work.
 We Think- Pro Ams
• Users share by uploading their pictures onto their profile,
making it viewable to anyone on deviantArt. They are
also able to comment on the artwork.
• Other ways which they can share ideas and opinions is
through the forums, groups, chat rooms, critique section
and through their personal journals.
• dA attracts users which are art students and amateurs
but also anyone who has an interest in art as some
people don’t upload any of their own work but just view
other peoples.
 Open Source
• dA isn’t really open source as it’s technology isn’t
available to others. However dA isn’t really a technology
to be shared but rather a source where other information
can be shared.
• dA allow it’s users to have influence over how to improve
it’s own tools by asking users
questions and the users have
forums and groups where they
can discuss
how dA can be improved.
 Copyright
• For copyright of the users artwork the website uses
creative commons.
• If any work is uploaded that infringes copyright it is
immediately deleted.
• However not everyone understands this copyright law and
there have been cases which involved work of deviantArt
members being used without permission. For example a
self portrait of a 14 year old English school girl was used on
the front cover of a porn film. She thought the photograph
was protected with a watermark and copyright symbol.
• dA benefits greatly from internet freedom as the
whole basis of its website is a free sharing source.
 Creative Commons
• DeviantArt allows its users to use
creative commons to ensure that their
work is not solely free for anyone to use.
• It makes the website more effective as it’s
users can be reassured that there work
will be used for the purposes they want it
to or not used at all.
 Digital Divide
• DeviantArt, as of October 2009, has 11
million members.
• Users sign up for free for the
basic account with most of the sites
features. However there is a
premium account which users can sign up
to where they have to have a paid
subscription.
 Gate Keeping
• On deviantArt anyone can connect with
anyone. No rules apply on communication
allowing everyone to talk to each other
and see each others work.
• There are no restrictions about who can
access and contribute.
• The one thing that is filtered is pictures
with nudity.
 Free Press
• DeviantArt do not suppress any
information therefore it supports citizen
journalists by allowing them to spread the
word of different issues through art or
through their journals.
 Marxist Theories
• DeviantArt does not have a mission statement.
• It’s users however have many points of view and
some have groups just based on their own ideologies
and opinions, not just groups based on art.
• Therefore dA allows a free flow of ides as and does
not enforce bias.
• Many of these opinions conflict
• with things in our every day society
such as politics and current affairs in
the news.
 Power Elites
• DeviantArt challenges a few other
websites such as [Link],
[Link] and [Link]. It also
challenges a big media company as
[Link] is owned by yahoo.
• However out of all these sites, deviantArt
has the most members.
 Internet Neutrality
• DeviantArt relies on internet neutrality to be
successful as it is a free internet sharing
site which anyone can use to browse,
upload and buy anything you want.
• I do not think that dA would be effected by
the Digital Economy Bill as the work on the
website is legal and there is no illegal
downloading that takes place.