Art and Communication 3

For this post I want to look into the effects of sites directly made for the art community. A few popular ones that I've found or had experience with are DeviantArt, ArtBistro, Rhizome.org, artcyclopedia.com, etc.

Deviant Art is the largest art community on the internet. We can probably like it to the 'facebook' of art. You can create your own profile, make a gallery of your work, sell your artwork, start your art collection, and track the artists you like the most (or your fellow artist friends!). These are just a few benefits of this site.
Art Bistro and Rhizome.org are similar to this.

I also discovered ArtCyclopedia.com. This is more like a 'database' of the most popular and famous artwork in the world. You can search the top 30 artists of all time, find information/prints on virtually any artist, and buy posters/print of almost any popular artist you like. Not only that but a small section of the site is devoted to current news in the art world.

Sites like these are, what I believe, to be the most important aspect of why internet art is thriving. The internet itself as a tool is a great way for artists to create NetArt, but what is art if there is no way for it to get recognized and appreciate by others? These sites, devoted to artists and art fanatics around the world, really bridge the way for people to communicate with other artists around the world. It essentially has solved the location barrier problem.

Another way that these internet sites have raised interest in NetArt (and art in general) is by making it available to all aspects of the public. Whether out of curiousity, or mere accident, people are much more likely to "stumble upon" a site devoted to artwork (or netart itself) than they are to randomly show up at an art museum, art gallery event, etc. I think overtime this will drastically increase the involvement with the art community, and the interest and appreciation of art itself.

Lastly, these sites generally have one great thing in common... They're all free! Most offer at least some form of membership free of charge. How much better can you get? This allows any person with computer access to be a part of these online communities.
The more I look into this topic, the more reasons I find to love the internet. It's always been one of my favorite hobbies... but I'm just beginning to realize not only the complexity of it, but the beauty of this specific technology.