A good part of today has been spent not only working on the updating of my own website (where I feel I’m making great progress) but also checking out the way in which other people (particularly artists) use this form of communication. It seems to me that although we artists are urged to keep up with the times and to equip ourselves with a web presence in one way or another, little thought is given, and little advice available, regarding how this is supposed to work and for whose benefit.
To sum up the situation rather simply, there are two ways of looking at communication of this kind. Is it taking place “up the ladder” or “down the ladder”? In other words, is the primary purpose of the exercise to start at the bottom (the artist) and to use higher levels of the communication network as a way of getting out information to a wider world? Or does one take the point of view of the average punter out there, looking for information about an artist, and wondering where to start? Let’s take a specific example.
I am a part of a chain of communication. I belong to a group of artists who operate under the title Unit 9.* This group is one of a collection of culture-related enterprises gathered under the umbrella of a community organisation known as the South Square Centre. When we set up a structure of communication with the outside world, do we do so in the expectation that people will approach the Centre looking for information, and they will then be passed “down the ladder” to the Unit and eventually to its members? Or is the purpose of the network to catch individuals who approach our personal addresses, and to make sure that they are referred “up the ladder” to the Unit and then the Centre?
Of course, a reasonable answer is that both of these situations might be the case. When I have been looking into the nature of the concrete structure in which I am involved, however, I find that it is not well-adapted to serve either goal. I have to admit that although I refer in this web-site quite often to both the Unit and the Centre, I rarely include specific information about how the reader of my site could move “up the ladder” to either of these levels. Conversely, looking at the sites run by both the Centre and the Unit today, the enquirer would be hard pressed to find a way of reaching any specific information about me (or any other members).
I will be discussing this situation with colleagues in the near future, but it does occur to me that there is a general problem. When people set up web-sites they often fail to think of these as elements in a chain of communication, and see them as free-standing and self-referential. My remarks are not intended as a criticism of friends and colleagues. Let’s face it, if the situation is less than ideal I have been a part of its creation. They are a reminder to myself, as much as anything else, to begin to think in different ways about the pattern of my communication as an artist.
So: let’s begin where I ought to go more regularly: www.southsquarecentre.co.uk and info@southsquarecentre.co.uk. The Unit 9 website is embarrassingly out of date, so I’ll hold fire on that one until we can get our act together. There is some information, however, on the general Centre site.
*Named historically after our premises.