Andrew Peters
2/7/2007

Site Analysis 1: Celesta Danger's photos

Most of you have likely observed the recent explosion of individuals creating accounts on servers to easily share their thoughts, work, art, etc. with world. The broad concept of sharing information and building communities on the net hasn't changed since the moment of its conception- this is the spirit of the cyber realm. What has evolved over the last decades is the ease of which users can learn to wield the power that lies within this massive entity. With a few hours (or less) of education in regards to the basic functions of the personal computer, an individual could theoretically be posting their most intimate thoughts or displaying the products of their artistic passions.
Amazingly enough, anyone with access to the Internet, if they so choose, can commune and network- sharing and receiving- giving and taking. To really illustrate the idea of an Internet community working together in a harmonious and constructive way, we should take a look at Celesta's Flickr site. For those not familiar with Flickr it is a site which users can sign up for space to upload their photos or other images to space dedicated specifically for an individual user. There is a basic free account, but limited storage. Celesta has chosen to go with the pro account, which gives her more freedom, storage space, and options. You will see this if you visit her site. Celesta has an incredible passion for photography, and she has many styles. When processing her film, she often will break typical protocol, using filters and chemicals in unique ways, which in turn result in stunningly creative art. The especially powerful aspect of Celesta's space, and the one this short analysis will seek to explore is the social network that has been established on this site.
Social networking is an elemental characteristic of our species. In this interesting time, however, (at least in the industrialized world), there seems to be a trend towards networking with those who we perceive to be most like ourselves or share the same interests rather than networking just to sustain life. It would be interesting to explore in the future which type of these groups would display greater camaraderie and cohesiveness in a time of crises, but that's a question for another time. Returning to Celesta's social network, she has 75 individual contacts. These contacts also have contacts (which if you're at all interested in photography, especially more abstract work, I encourage you to explore these through hyperlinks. Groups become close nit relatively quickly, and if you view the comments under her photographs you'll notice that they are mostly complimentary, provide constructive criticism, and are from the same 20 or so of her contacts. She also provides feedback on their photographs. While geographically, a sizable portion of her truly dedicated network also reside and explore photography in the Austin area. I generally take a look at the site once a week, and read what certain people say, as I have several acquaintances in common. Without a doubt, there is a running social commentary that one can tune into and understand that the comment section also acts as a communication tool for their social lives. I find this interesting because it exemplifies the notion of groups within groups.
If I had the opportunity (and perhaps I will) it would be potentially interesting to sift through all the commentary and pull out the comments that don't specifically pertain to the critiquing or complimenting the photo, but collect the comments that are more personal and have obviously been extended from a more intimate and less professional user. Using this information, one could quite possibly construct a relatively intricate outline of Celesta's life over the past couple of years. I find this fascinating because it is really not Celesta that is sharing information, yet it is others that she obviously communicates with through different mediums.
One last feature of this website that I'd like to discuss briefly is the option to join forums based on specific photographic interests. Celesta is a member of quite a few, meaning she contributes and builds relationships with others that practice different types of photography. For examples sake, lightleaks is a group of about 2000 photographs in which during the development process too much light was exposed either to the paper or the film, and has created imperfections. But what is an imperfection? The group lightleaks presents photographs that may appear ruined to some as examples of perfectly acceptable works of art.
Her website is updated frequently, and as of now, 6,742 photographs. Each of these files is of significant size. The power an individual can absorb from the web can benefit them with tremendous recognition as well as influence. Remember, "With great power comes great responsibility".