Online communities are linked together by virtue of the electronic time and space that we share. Most individuals and organizations desire more than to simply be waiting to see what happens next. As is true in the business world and in socializing, promoting your existence and your abilities is an extremely important aspect of your life in the Internet community.
Despite the vast and seemingly impersonal face of online networking, the Internet can be a rather close-knit community. This is because of the nature of individualized or selected linking. Think of a giant bookstore where people in the engineering aisles are likely to share a quip or an observation with others interested in this area. Similarly, the fiction area or the art area will draw in a specific clustering of people. They may or may not interact. The Internet has a remarkable ability to draw users from widely diverse geographic locations, and even vastly different cultural backgrounds, into exceptionally focused points in Cyberspace. The Usenet is one of the best examples, and we see interest areas that are seemingly very limited in scope, populated by strong core groups of users. We see news groups that range from rec.arts.marching.drumcorps to alt.alien.visitors.
The physical invisibility of other users, often thought to be the cold side of electronic communication, actually forces users to make more of an attempt to communicate. In some cases communication is the only activity available. Often, I think of the Internet as an ocean where thousands of us are bobbing up and down on our small crafts and there is a camaraderie that develops around this. We ask questions like, "How do you navigate around those rocks up ahead?" Users will frequently volunteer their assistance, having struggled with similar problems or with their own special circumstances. There is a sort of electronic karma, where your being brave enough to ask a question, frees you up later in life to help someone else.
Somewhere in this process, temporary and sometimes long-term friendships develop. These relations may sometimes be the result of a series of flames where everyone eventually will kiss and make up, or it may be around a very specific issue such as users of a specific software who come together to exchange program tips, macros, or complaints. Opportunities exist for promoting and networking which are not hindered by the normal constraints of time and space. This is not to say that one should barge into any area where you feel you deserve attention and start right in with, "Hi, I'm Howard. I make the best Widgets on earth. Here's my hypertext resume, complete with 24-bit, high-resolution photos." In some places you'll be booted or hooted out of the loop within microseconds. Nor am I suggesting that people more subtly worm or weasel their way into an area they feel will be fruitful for business.
The Internet is a community, and it also has obvious commercial potential. While there has been a de facto and almost perfectly anarchistic state of peaceful coexistence and mutual support among users, this does not mean that people are not interested in exploring and developing opportunities for making money. To me it's not merely an issue of effective targeting—it's an issue of artistic integrity—or, in a word, honesty. I am more likely to buy a computer, for example, were I to find a seller whose life truly revolves around how computers work, and this person is willing to help me make intelligent choices. On the other hand, it would be difficult to resist a straightforward statement that said "20 years in business, lowest price."
Promoting oneself as an artist has unique aspects to it. Unless you are a known artist whose work is in demand, there is not necessarily a group of perspective buyers specifically looking for your work. There is not always what one might technically call a "need" in the sense that a business needs a desk or a car, although this view has been strongly debated. (There are many reasons that a business or an individual may truly need art.) Even when there is a strongly motivated client, the choice of what to buy can be subjective and at the mercy of changing desires. When you buy something like a printer, you may struggle over the look, the comparative features, and the like; but usually there is a set list of requirements that any number of products will meet. Like many artists, I have had the experience of having a particular work be in great demand, while the other works from the same series don't seem to have the same magical appeal. This is why the personality of the artist, the person behind the work, is often the most important part of the process. The same way I need to be reassured that the motherboard I am buying has been put together with thought and integrity, when art is sold there is often a need to hear the artist's own beliefs and to learn about the processes that went into the work.
The Internet is a potentially powerful forum for showing the person behind the work, whether you're seeking a grant to create a dance performance or you're selling Widgits. My home page (http://gopher.panix.com:70/11/nyart/Kpage/ or http://www.panix.com/kgreenb/kghome.html), for example, has my name highlighted at the bottom. If the reader clicks on my name, they find not only a mix of my .plan and .signature files, but also further links within my various references. I write a column for Internet World. Clicking on Internet World takes you directly to the Electronic Newsstand where archives of this magazine and my work may be found. It's a comfortable way to promote myself because others can choose to make that link on their own. It hasn't been forced on the reader, yet the information is there for anyone who wants to see it. Sometimes, I receive mail where someone sees a particular interest of mine and they share a common interest. This may take the form of "I noticed that in alt.artcom you mentioned you make neon. I work with this medium, too. Some of my work uses electronic sensors[el]," and so on. I have had situations where I am very interested in the contact someone has initiated and situations where I am not interested. It is easy to respond quickly via e-mail and either encourage the dialogue or suggest other people or places they might consider more appropriate. Generally, if someone is sincere and the presentation is direct and simple, I find I respect the attempt to communicate with me, even if I am not interested or able to be helpful.
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