Project Minima:

Thursday, October 18, 2012

I've Been Pinned!

Yeah, I'm referring to it as Pin-arrested, actually.   I just noticed a sudden influx of visits from that site and wondered...WTF, you know?  So traveling back in time and space, what did I behold?  A selection of photos of my very self from my very own Project Minima posted on someone's Pinterest Board...about Lagenlooks!  (Apparently I am a prime example of that style of dress.  Who knew?!)  And I have been re-Pin-arrested by other entities too.
 
kinetic sculpture by Claire Oswalt

Back to lagenlooks.  A few moments before this arresting discovery, I had just read a post by Meagan Mae on the very same subject of Lagenlook.  (What are the odds?!)  The style seems to be about a loose, long, layering look.  Yes, I guess I do do that, don't I?  hmmm.  So I've been labelled too!

Anyway, I have never gotten into Pinterruptus.  I've always thought it a big waste

of time.  Why would I want to spend time finding a bunch of images to put together on some other website?????????  Or just look at massive collections of images that someone puts together because they like them???????????? I'd much rather do my own artwork, refashioning, sewing, or post on my own blog, etc.  It's certainly way more rewarding reading blogs you're interested in and interacting with them on a regular basis - like in real life with with your friends.

So having some unknown come over and take my images (of me, yet!) and make it part of their "bug" collection on another site with millions of other people's collections where everyone just collects from each other for their "own" collections, just creeps me out.  While I suppose I could feel honored or something, it just feels sneaky, somewhat inbred and, frankly illegal, if you ask me.  Anyway, that's my thoughts about the matter.  I'm sure there's plenty of other opinions.  So what's Pinteresting to you?


22 comments:

  1. Thank you for introducing me to Lagenlook, Pao, I'd never heard the term before.
    I joined Pinterest out of curiosity but couldn't really see the point, I lost interest after an hour and promptly forgeot my password. Like you, I'm more a doer than an observer, it seems like a bit of a waste of time. It is very strange when you get told one of your images has been pinned makes me feel a bit like I've been leered at by a dirty old bloke. xxx

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    1. So that's happened to you then, Vix? I wasn't really told, I just found out when I followed a pinterest link from my blog back to its source. But yeah, it sorta feels like a violation.

      I know people download images when they visit my blog, but that doesn't bother me so much, because I feel like they're visiting and there's something they'd like to have to look at later. And I feel like my visitors are like my company at my place - not thieves in the night.

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  2. I have never put together inspiration boards. My making process has never functioned that way. I tried once to see if it would work but I ended up with dusty images on the wall, which pissed me off. I have my blog neighbourhood and I can't even keep up with that, not to mention the million projects in the queu demanding my attention.

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    1. I do collect images: postcards, tear outs from old magazines, things I like. And sometimes I even put them together somewhere or on something. But I'm really not interested in putting that kind of thing on-line for public consumption. (Just like I scribble notes, or write in my calendar.) And I certainly wouldn't be interested in having other people re-using those images or in gathering my personal imagery from other people. nuff said.

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  3. Um, I will sheepishly raise my hand, and admit I use Pinterest. Um, to remember stuff I want to remember. Yep, that's it. I pin stuff I love, mostly styling, so that it won't disappear the next time I see a squirrel. I pin fave bloggers' pics, and love having a central location to moon over them :)But I don't follow anyone. 'Cause that would be too much trouble and hard to remember.

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    1. I know Pinterest is popular, you see it as a button on so many blogs. I didn't know you could follow people, but now that I write that, I suppose that's what the button would be for (duh).

      Just watch because I've said all this stuff, I'll become a Pininvestor sooner or later. Was it Vix that said, "never say never"?

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  4. I think that pinterest has a good concept of introducing lots of ideas en masse. But like any major website - some things are more popular than others. I've been Pinned, and while I'm mildly uncomfortable with the concept of Pinterest, I've ultimately decided I'm flattered, but it's not a site I'm going to use. I used it out of the gate, but I find it much more interesting to fill that time with reading and commenting on my friends blogs. I never remember things I've pinned. I will admit to occasionally scrolling the main page, but actually pinning I don't do.

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    1. I tried looking at it when I kept hearing about it over and over and over everywhere. But I just didn't get it. Seemed like if you did see anything interesting you couldn't get back to the source in any meaningful way, so what was the point?

      What you get is an image out of context without its creator's knowledge or permission to be there. That's what doesn't sit right with me and seems like it should be illegal.

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    2. One of the problems with pinterest - is its tentative legalities. Many artists and copyright holders are up in arms about the legal issues of images being stolen and appropriated without their permission - and yes proper linkage.

      Supposedly with pinterest, you're supposed to be able to click once to get to the single pin, then click again and take you to the source. It's how Tumblr is also meant to work. But many people remove or do not add original sources and thus many pins get REpinned without sourcing and like you said, lose context.

      It's been a discussion floating that as bloggers, we have to remember we are using a public forum to release information into and that does make it subject to that public. Not that it should be right for people to steal images or ideas, but is something to consider when crafting online.

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    3. Even when the source is listed with the image on pinterest, it's only the blog address, so you would have to go through an entire blog to find that picture to read about it in context. So that's definitely not it's objective.

      Anway, I've read of a hack you can do to find out if any of your images have been pinterested and one to disable the pinning of your images (I think). Also a hack that disables image lifting in general. Or you can watermark all your images so at least that will continue on wherever they go.

      But I agree with you, if you put it online, you ought to know, it's gone with the wind.

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  5. I'm completely pinterested in this pinteresting post! First and foremost, to be pintered or not to be pintered, that's the question isn't it? I think it's a huge pinterly compliment to be pinterested again and again. If I was ever pinterestpinned for my style I'd be in pinterecstasy!

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    1. Perfectly put, Joni, if the point is about putting a person upon a pedestal through pintering.

      Probably what I find most problematic is the impropriety by which this questionable procedure is procured. Pilfering one's personal photos without permission seems a punishable offense provoking police protection or prosecution, in my most pinteresting opinion!

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  6. Pao, I'm pondering your post on Pinterest, the problematic proliferation of pardoning appropriation, your perspectives on permissions and pigeonholing and their parallels to practices in public vs. private spheres, and possibilities of personal participation.

    Fantastic discussion. I appreciate your questioning of "what is done" and your incredibly articulate thinking / feeling responses to the experience - it is such an interesting and in many ways fast-paced era of our cultural development, and in so many ways I feel like a stranger in a strange land.

    I can see some value in using Pinterest to organize inspiration images and project ideas / techniques, but only for my personal use, as an online equivalent to folders of magazine clippings (my browser's Bookmarks / Favourites lists are completely out of control), but I find the public and social aspects of it very weird. Same with "circles" on etsy.

    Love your artwork choice again!

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  7. I think I'm out of it here. I just learned how to text last year. I've heard of Pinterest. Notinterest. I was a little freaked out today because I got an email from a young lady who tracked me down after 30 years. And I'm not on Facebook either.

    Yeah, it would be weird to be put on a pedestal then cannibalized. I'm amazed at this new-to-me fashion ...Lagenwhat? (I'll have to scroll back up) The description sounds like it's great, though. I'll have to check it out. Wait, I have been checking it out apparently. Pao, that's you, right? Yup, it's great.

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    1. I still don't text, Jean, so it's all relative. Yeah, same thing here, an old (from high school!) boyfriend tracked me down with an email recently and I'm not on facebook either! It was freaky.

      Lagenlooks are your style too I would think Jean. Yep, in fact you probably wrote the book. Thanks Jean!

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  8. I can't imagine adding another focus to my day, so I have never explored Pinterest. I find this discussion interesting and the new information boggles my mind. I always feel like I'm behind in this ever changing world of technology, new sites and overload of information. The entire world has changed in my lifetime!



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    1. It sounds like I know what I'm talking about Judith, but on the other hand I don't even use a cell phone! Or any of the other gadgetry that goes alongside - ipads, ebooks, twitter, facebook, instagram, whatever. My goodness I remember when we used to mimeograph things!

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  9. Somehow I missed this post.. Anyway, I think you bring up a lot of good points. I was wary of Pinterest, but now I use it just like I use Facebook--minimally and for specific purposes. Speaking as a borderline Luddite, I find both helpful for those purposes. For Pinterest, it is a convenient replacement for bookmarking for images I want to save. I follow a couple folks for their vintage fashion images (I never browse on Pinterest) However, when it came to pinning photos I had taken, I got nervous that they would get re-pinned without any credit to the source. So I added copyright text to those images (turns out no one has cared to re-pin those). The only image that has gotten pinned from my blog was one from years ago that I found somewhere else, of a baby aardvark. That one image has brought more people to my blog than anything else I've posted. Not sure what that says about the content of my blog or of what's popular in the blogosphere...
    Until 2007 I didn't even own a cell phone (and one of my landlines was on a rotary dial phone). And I don't text.

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    1. A contemporary 'Luddite' is someone who shuns technology. The Luddites were skilled textile craftsmen in 19th-England who resisted the introduction of machinery and being replaced by unskilled laborers.

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    2. Ah, then I guess I could be classified as a borderline Luddite too...

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