Create your own community

Virtual communities exist everywhere— on websites, scientific labs, mobile devices, in boardrooms, classrooms and in an imaginary world constructed by a child imagining bigger and better life experiences.
In this report, I chose to research the website, stumbleupon.com and have adapted ideas from this virtual community to apply them to my prototype website for Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS). With this prototype design, I hope to launch it in-time for the group registration at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
With so many websites available to the world today, it is hard to keep track of all of the valuable resources, while filtering out the obsolete. So StumbleUpon! Is a place where you can diverge from your favourite listing on your computer such as the popular site of Google, and you can click the Stumble! Button to navigate an infinite number of sites to find new and innovative templates for information and communications.
StumbleUpon! is therefore a networking system within a networking system, because it has a database of websites, but also has a database of other “stumblers” who contribute to the database by visiting websites, presenting their ‘thumbs up, or thumbs down’ rating to StumbleUpon! and add new sites to the StumbleUpon! database with the ratings.
The concept of StumbleUpon! is simple: anyone can stumble upon a good website, but this group has named the concept and created a virtual community out of it (www.stumbleupon.com). As members, or visitors to the website, you don’t have to contribute to the database and can just view the sites to gather research or to play games; however, the membership registration process is quick and easy and you do not have to disclose any personal information right away, compared to other membership registration-focused websites such as hotmail, facebook, SecondLife and so on.
If you do decide to become a member of StumbleUpon!, then the second phase of registration is to select the categories of websites that you are interested in studying, or visiting during leisure time. This is a good idea, because for example without the categorical selection process, an artist would have to view sites based on molecular biology and a scientist would have to view art history pages, when these people do not habitually enjoy, or need to focus on those areas (www.stumbleupon.com). The list includes subjects such as, “art history, photography, multimedia, computer programming, cyberculture to Buddhism and beyond. When the toolbar is set-up on your web browser, all you have to do is click the ‘Stumble!” button and a window will appear with a website that fits into one of the categories of websites that you’ve chosen. If you keep clicking “Stumble!”, you will view websites in a random order, but under the categories you’ve chosen at registration, and you can change these categories at any time.
There are so many benefits of having StumbleUpon! on your computer and setting up a free account. When you are feeling under-motivated and can’t concentrate or focus on the work you have to do, StumbleUpon! helps you to diverge and take a break by looking at other sites. A similar action that you may have taken in the past when writing with pen technology, is to go outside and take a walk, but this virtual community offers the techno-break of the 21st century. It is like mind-mapping, but without the map. With so much technology now, inspiration takes training and innovative ideas are not as easily developed. Creativity Coach and Psychologist, Eric Maisel states:
Artists have available to them two working states, absorption and concentration, and each feels qualitatively different from the other. When artists are absorbed they are lost in time and space and oblivious to their surroundings…[I]nspiration flows from it. Choreographer Maurice Béjart wrote, “When I start work, I have a total vision of the final work—this vision lasting but one second.” The absorbed mind sees whole books, whole ballets, whole movies in a flash (Maisel, 33).

In this case, inspiration is literally in the hands and the mind of the artist. For the filmmaker, the film is literally projected on an invisible screen before their eyes before it is produced and directed. For the artist, the canvas floats in the air above their heads like it is already hanging in the Louvre. If you are not the type to envision the completed piece from start to finish in your work, you may be the “concentration artist” which Maisel describes as involving, “[M]uch more of an effortful state (33).” I believe that artists shift between both phases during the process of creation and they are not static in the process; nevertheless, an artist as Maisel states, “[m]ust also be able to concentrate, to work in the face of distractions (33).” Through these processes of absorption and concentration, motivation rises and falls, and the artist in the creative process is faced with having to focus when they can’t, or having to be open-minded when they need to focus. For the artist in this situation, having a website such as StumbleUpon!, they can diverge away from focusing intensely or being open-minded when they need to focus and can visit websites which will not only be informative, but will also provide entertainment and perhaps inspiration to overcome the creative process block that they are experiencing.
Until StumbleUpon!, Professors and employers were the people to give you linkages to exciting and innovative websites, but now it is the StumbleUpon! community of ‘stumblers’, or average people who are providing the sites for you to browse and bookmark. This says something about the internet and online communities in that they are becoming more and more ubiquitous to society and with everyone in the know of the exciting websites, it begs the question of, “will the internet sustain itself?” Will people overcome the machine, or will the machine overcome people (Haraway, 517)? Do we need the internet? Will we need the internet?
StumbleUpon! began in 2001 with the idea to narrow-down searches online based on your personal interests, to present user-rated web content based on categories defined by the StumbleUpon! team. Their focus is on establishing and creating virtual communities, and the section on the site called, “About StumbleUpon!,” states:
Information on the Internet changes rapidly. StumbleUpon is a dynamic approach to keep on top of this ever-evolving pool of knowledge. StumbleUpon filters through the vast amount of information on the web to direct Stumblers to high quality web sites which are relevant to their personal interests. An obscure but interesting site can be immediately shared with other like-minded users. Old or low-quality sites can be removed if their ratings become too low. The participation of community members helps maintain a database of the most up-to-date and highest quality sites possible (www.stumbleupon.com).

This feature is so important to the virtual community because living in such a high tech world where practically everyone is online, instant messaging each other and sending email at home or on their way to work, social life has been altered due to the “invasion” of web-based technology. Content needs to be condensed to make browsing efficient. There seems to be an increasing amount of websites with the idea of the virtual community as the primary focus of the website. This can feel somewhat comforting to the average web browser, and they no longer have to feel alienated from their peers, or from the world. Anyone can network on StumbleUpon!; you can show your profile, your list of favourite websites, post your photograph and can send emails to other ‘stumblers’ to potentially meet in-person and form lasting relationships (www.stumbleupon.com). This idea is not new, but it is gaining increasing popularity as more people become ‘users’ and connect online and realize that the Internet is not something to be afraid of, but rather can be a place to collaborate, to dialogue and to network with the choice of leaving your living room, or to meet in-person.
My virtual community, Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS) currently exists as a community on igloo.org (www.igloo.org/caasaweb). It was initially set-up to offer a safe place for people living in Canada to dialogue about sexual assault issues in Canada and to gain support from other survivors; however, the site is under-used and readership is low. The first application of the idea for CAASA/ACCAS was established on Facebook.com and membership expanded to one hundred people within the first month. Marketing for the igloo site compared to the facebook site is taking much more effort because facebook has such a presence in media culture on the news as well as online and word-of-mouth. Nevertheless, the concept is there, and the support from current members is strong.
The igloo site is an excellent starting place for any non-profit organization, but it does seem to focus more heavily on the left-brain analytical and logistical research and development method of thought and practice, so for art groups to establish themselves and maintain their presentation as arts-based groups, igloo is not a lasting forum unless igloo adapts their marketing and design for artists (www.igloo.org/caasaweb).
The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) launched their formal application process and system for student groups last year, and for CAASA/ACCAS, this is an excellent opportunity to expand and to reach the arts community, while staying focused on the mandate and vision of the group. Colleagues on CAASA/ACCAS and I are in-process of applying for student group status at OCAD and are excited for the opportunities that OCAD offers to student groups, such as webspace on the OCAD server, free use of rooms and offices on-campus, student centre exhibition space, have the opportunity to participate in university events, are promoted through OCAD’s website and publications, and are eligible for student organization funds through the OCADSU grants policy (GetInvolved, Brent James, OCAD).
Using the design template of StumbleUpon!, CAASA/ACCAS members will be able to select categories in the area of sexual assault and the arts in Canada that interest them, or that they’re interested in learning more about. In design of the prototype for part two of this assignment, I have designed a user-friendly arts focused and informational website to be used as the OCAD student group website for CAASA/ACCAS. The site will act as a hub between the groups’ core site on igloo.org and the facebook site:

Structure of CAASA/ACCAS Virtual Communities:

www.igloo.org/caasaweb>>>OCAD student group>>>Facebook Discussion Forum/Advertising site

Using references to the StumbleUpon! web structure, the OCAD site will act as a community networking system and users will be able to “favourite” the categories that interest them, and will be able to access information about group functions and upcoming events. After the site is created and connected with OCAD, a goal is to send the coding and template to other institutions across the country to bring CAASA/ACCAS to their student, and staff populations and make the virtual community of CAASA/ACCAS at OCAD a national virtual community among other campuses in Canada. As a result, more people will have access to resources, art will be created and presented online in virtual communities as well as real life communities and the goal and CAASA/ACCAS mandate will be met. Violence will be exposed in art creations so stigma in society will be minimized. This will support a stronger foundation for victims of sexual assault to stand up for themselves with support around them to report perpetrators to police. Governmental systems will pay more attention to prevention of sexual assault rather than correctional services and penalties for committing crimes of sexual assault will be strictly enforced.
It is amazing how virtual communities can facilitate a place for change and growth by offering resources and safe places for people wanting to make these changes happen. StumbleUpon! is a starting point for the creative process, and it is a place of respite for those moments of techno-fading, or mind-blocks. Adapting the features of StumbleUpon! to the prototype design of the website for the student group, Canadian Artists Against Sexual Assault/ Artistes Canadiens Contre L’Assaut Sexuel (CAASA/ACCAS) at OCAD will present an innovative method of searching and collaborating online and to meet in-person, thus balancing the use of technology with interpersonal communications. The result will be a great website, a motivating virtual community and a hope for positive change in society.