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- May 1, 2008
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Ok so I've been having a thought on that most topical subject of critique and I've hit upon an idea which could potentially help in the promotion of critique on the site. Something that promotes increasing the critique and the quality of critique given on the forums for users of all skill levels.
So here is a rough concept.
1) A user makes a thread titled "Crit ring 'month' 'regular title of thread'" where month is the month its posted in - generally abbreviated to 3 letters for title space (eg nov, dec, jan)
By posting the thread like that the user is stating that this thread is part of the critique ring for that specific month.
2) A user may make as many of these threads per month as they wish, although the more they make the more the process will dilute for themselves*
3) By making a Critique Ring thread the user posting the thread agrees that every single user who posts critique of a worth while nature** in their thread will have at least one of their own critique ring threads (for that month) commented on by the OP.
This means that by asking for critique the user is also offering their own constructive input onto others photographs.
Furthermore this concept reinforces learning by helping to force people to not only take critique, but also to give it out. It forces them to sit down and work out some critique, maybe not for their own work, but for others work at the very least. The act of giving thus helping to reinforce a concept of structured assessment of an image (with the amount of structure hopefully increasing as they develop).
In addition even if the person is an utterly new photographer they can still take part, maybe they'll give some interesting critique or maybe they'll make a bit of a mess of it the first few times. No problem. Remember the learning process does not have to stop just in a users own thread - nothing stops debate and discussion about critique in ones own threads and indeed it is often from discussion as opposed to just jump and run critiques (both giving and receiving) that the most learning can potentially be done.
NOTE - this isn't a "praise me praise you" kind of affair. Critique is critique no matter what aspects it focuses upon so this shouldn't end up like flickr groups where people just praise each other in circles.
This method also helps encourage people out of their comfort zones. Pushing them to both view different kinds of photo than they would normally view or reply to and also forcing them to view not just their equals but also (hopefully) their superiors photos with a critical eye. Study of higher level artistry/photography helps a lot in a user developing and improving especially when that study becomes one of a critical nature (both technically and artistically).
Problems/limits
a) Some limit should be suggested for the number of given critiques on any one thread that the user has to reply to. This to avoid the situation where a hot-topic photo generates a mass reply which would end up with the user having to give out far too much in critique to make the process worth while. This limit shouldn't discourage giving more than the limits worth of critique (it is hoped that those giving critique are doing so not just from a mercenary angle to get their own), but would serve as a safety net.
b) Critique Ring "groups" forming. I fully expect that if this works users will end up forming little critique ring friend groups where they all critique each others work. It's my hope that these groups will grow as it allows increased social building in the community - whilst the nature of the ring system means that those outside of a supposed group can still jump in and take part.
c) Quality issues - this is the weakest point and potentially something that needs its own solution. That said its my experience that the effort put into giving in such an enforced critique setup generally results in an increase in the quality of what will come - and over time all users will hopefully improve both the quality of their own photography and the level of their critical eye.
d) Prevention of users skipping out on giving critique. Note that most times this will happen is when critique is given by someone who hasn't yet posted their own crit ring thread for the month. We can't all expect to be posting crit ring threads on the 1st of each month and the scheme would lose its potential if it only works on the end of each month.
This might involve generation of some "crit ring" subscription thread for a specific month - the idea being users would all have a central easy to check thread where they can post a link to their crit ring thread(s) for the month into and which can be easily checked by users through the month.
*I would like to do it week by week, but since the weeks in a year don't have any specific name or number that we commonly use I think attributing week numbers would just become confusing (esp long term).
**This is possibly the weak point though I would argue that we can set out some standards. For example the critique being actual critique and not just opinionated (eg I like it/hate it). I would also add that a sense of length be added, one sentence wonders wouldn't generally be ranked very highly if at all.
So there is the idea and concept - so what do people think? Is it worth a shot, what problems or solutions can you see to what is outlined.
So here is a rough concept.
1) A user makes a thread titled "Crit ring 'month' 'regular title of thread'" where month is the month its posted in - generally abbreviated to 3 letters for title space (eg nov, dec, jan)
By posting the thread like that the user is stating that this thread is part of the critique ring for that specific month.
2) A user may make as many of these threads per month as they wish, although the more they make the more the process will dilute for themselves*
3) By making a Critique Ring thread the user posting the thread agrees that every single user who posts critique of a worth while nature** in their thread will have at least one of their own critique ring threads (for that month) commented on by the OP.
This means that by asking for critique the user is also offering their own constructive input onto others photographs.
Furthermore this concept reinforces learning by helping to force people to not only take critique, but also to give it out. It forces them to sit down and work out some critique, maybe not for their own work, but for others work at the very least. The act of giving thus helping to reinforce a concept of structured assessment of an image (with the amount of structure hopefully increasing as they develop).
In addition even if the person is an utterly new photographer they can still take part, maybe they'll give some interesting critique or maybe they'll make a bit of a mess of it the first few times. No problem. Remember the learning process does not have to stop just in a users own thread - nothing stops debate and discussion about critique in ones own threads and indeed it is often from discussion as opposed to just jump and run critiques (both giving and receiving) that the most learning can potentially be done.
NOTE - this isn't a "praise me praise you" kind of affair. Critique is critique no matter what aspects it focuses upon so this shouldn't end up like flickr groups where people just praise each other in circles.
This method also helps encourage people out of their comfort zones. Pushing them to both view different kinds of photo than they would normally view or reply to and also forcing them to view not just their equals but also (hopefully) their superiors photos with a critical eye. Study of higher level artistry/photography helps a lot in a user developing and improving especially when that study becomes one of a critical nature (both technically and artistically).
Problems/limits
a) Some limit should be suggested for the number of given critiques on any one thread that the user has to reply to. This to avoid the situation where a hot-topic photo generates a mass reply which would end up with the user having to give out far too much in critique to make the process worth while. This limit shouldn't discourage giving more than the limits worth of critique (it is hoped that those giving critique are doing so not just from a mercenary angle to get their own), but would serve as a safety net.
b) Critique Ring "groups" forming. I fully expect that if this works users will end up forming little critique ring friend groups where they all critique each others work. It's my hope that these groups will grow as it allows increased social building in the community - whilst the nature of the ring system means that those outside of a supposed group can still jump in and take part.
c) Quality issues - this is the weakest point and potentially something that needs its own solution. That said its my experience that the effort put into giving in such an enforced critique setup generally results in an increase in the quality of what will come - and over time all users will hopefully improve both the quality of their own photography and the level of their critical eye.
d) Prevention of users skipping out on giving critique. Note that most times this will happen is when critique is given by someone who hasn't yet posted their own crit ring thread for the month. We can't all expect to be posting crit ring threads on the 1st of each month and the scheme would lose its potential if it only works on the end of each month.
This might involve generation of some "crit ring" subscription thread for a specific month - the idea being users would all have a central easy to check thread where they can post a link to their crit ring thread(s) for the month into and which can be easily checked by users through the month.
*I would like to do it week by week, but since the weeks in a year don't have any specific name or number that we commonly use I think attributing week numbers would just become confusing (esp long term).
**This is possibly the weak point though I would argue that we can set out some standards. For example the critique being actual critique and not just opinionated (eg I like it/hate it). I would also add that a sense of length be added, one sentence wonders wouldn't generally be ranked very highly if at all.
So there is the idea and concept - so what do people think? Is it worth a shot, what problems or solutions can you see to what is outlined.
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