Friday, February 20, 2009

INKTERACTION

Yet another web community for me to waste spend time on! For all you printmakers out there who haven't yet discovered it (although there are already 2414 members, and growing!), check out INKTERACTION the International Printmakers Network.

Set up your own profile page with links to your other sites, load your photos and videos of your work, join in on discussions on their forum, and post printmaking events (both private and public). And there's a blog feature, too, so if you've not yet got one going, it's free! Keep all your goodies in one place, if you like.

And while you're there, pop by & add me as your friend :)

(BTW - I just set up a Facebook Page for me as an artist; yeah, I know, hasn't the interwebby got enough of me yet?!?!)

EDIT - It has been brought to my attention recently that you require an invitation to participate in Inkteraction. If you're a printmaker and would like to be a part of Inkteraction, please contact me via my website and I'll be happy to send you an invitation via Inkteraction. Sorry for the confusion!!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boo and Fye on Inkteraction. I was sent an invitation and did sign up, and now I am having trouble signing in. 2000 to 3000 members is not even impressive for a social networking site. I have more friends than that on FB.
The invitation/sign up process are very poorly administered and will ultimately hurt the site, which quite frankly, other than being printmaking specific, doesn't offer any features or incentives that other sites don't.

Anonymous said...

Tried to access Inkteraction for some technical information about printing and do not have an invitation. The site reflects the truly inbred nature of the printmaking community. It's a site for printmakers to look at themselves and each other. I'll look elsewhere for information.

Unknown said...

It's too bad that some people seem to have a real hate-on for Inkteraction, but to each their own. I do not think that the "exclusivity" of Inkteraction is a function of printmakers themselves, and definitely disagree with that sentiment. You can find many involved, open and sharing printmakers across the globe on different discussion groups that aren't anywhere near as "closed" as Inkteraction, so I think it's unfair and uncalled for to judge so aggressively all printmakers or printmaking communities like that.

I agree that having the become a member to even see anything, in order to make an informed decision as to whether you even want to join the group is pretty lame. If you want to just "lurk" on a good discussion group for printmakers, check out the Wet Canvas printmaking forum. There don't tend to be the printmakers from academia on Wet Canvas, unlike on Inkteraction, so if academia is your forté, perhaps it's not for you. But at least you can see what the forum has to offer before you become a member, if even you ever do decide to do so, which is a definite step up, in my opinion, from Inkteraction.

Marissa L. Swinghammer said...

I ran across Inkteraction and I can't say I understand why it is closed off in such a way. I wouldn't go so far as to insult it and certainly not the entire printmaking community since in my experience most are not like that. But I don't understand why it can't even be seen by non-members.

And yeah, the invite only announcement it makes whenever you go is very off putting.

Charles Stroh said...

I do have an invitation and did register with Inkteraction, but I am still unable to sign in. The message says to use this site you must have an invitation. Too bad! Ning gives an explanation for why it happens, but it is circular. Ultimately, it goes back to saying that you have to have an invitation to join. That's Life.

Anonymous said...

I'd at least like to have a chance to check Inkteraction out but I'm stuck for an invite and not even being able to look at the site and check it out! I'm still curious but the invitation-only system dis not filling me with enthusiasm!

Christopher Clark said...

To add my two cents: The invite only setup had nothing to do with the insular nature of the print community. The system was set up because Inkteraction was being overrun by spammers. I'm sure there were better solutions, but the site's administrator lost her password and couldn't change the settings.

I'm pretty sure Interaction is gone now so I guess it doesn't matter.

Unknown said...

Thanks for your comment Christopher. Yes, you're right, it as about spammers as far as I'm aware. But it is still up & running, and I regularly get requests for invitations; so keep 'em coming, I am happy to invite!

Christopher Clark said...

When was the last time you signed in? I know Ning began charging for its service and, though a lot of people were offering to donate money to keep the site alive, that missing password seems to have killed any possibility of keeping Inkteraction going.

Unknown said...

You're right - it had been a while. I attempted to log on after reading your comment, and got an error. Then I got an email from another printmaker wondering if I knew what was going on. I was hoping to find out more, but I haven't yet been able to. So I guess Ning pulled the plug? If anyone knows, please share!

mkuhlman said...

Hi, I was trying to find Inkteraction and ran across your blog. I'm currently in the process of trying to start a comprehensive site about printmaking. It's more of an online magazine, but I'm trying to incorporate helpful resources and a discussion forum too. It's a little sparse now because I'm the only one behind it, but it's at www.theprintperspective.com. If you know anyone that would be interested in contributing anything to the site, I can be contacted at matt82kuhlman at gmail dot com.

Unknown said...

Inkteraction is now UNLOCKED!!! Yay!!! They're dealing with the spammers, and hopefully won't have to lock down again, so you should be able to see Inkteraction now without logging on or an invitation :)