Thanks for bringing this up @tobetada and thanks for engaging in the discussion @brittandjosie, @quantumg and @agmoore!
I tend to side with @agmoore on this. The technique of a collage is the instrument to create an impression. A certain technique like a sophisticated animation can of course impress by itself but this would be true for the complicated montage of a still collage too. In the end, it's about what the final artwork conveys in the viewer's subjective perception. Animated or still, oil or aquarelle, color or black and white - everyone should use the techniques and tools that they are most comfortable with and which they consider the ideal fit to what they want to achieve.
As for my part, I do in fact tend to favor still collages and I sometimes find motion elements distracting and not useful to enhance the artistic impression of a collage. As it's impossible for me to exclude my subjective preferences when it comes to compiling the shortlist, I'm thus quite confident that at least the finalist panel is not biased towards animated collages (beyond their quantitative share).
Regarding the outcome of the final poll, I'm also not under the impression that certain techniques are really decisive for the community's choice. Nor is it the objective artistic quality of a collage, if such a thing even exists. Rather, it seems to me that the effectiveness with which a finalist is able to encourage their own network to participate in the voting is key for the outcome. This might coincide with those better connected participants having a preference for creating animated collages. At the same time, I think there was a good amount of still collages amongst the Top 3 in the past rounds too.
Going beyond this topic, the impact of popularity on the result of community vote is the main reason why it wasn't feasible to skip the shortlist altogether, something we explored for a few rounds. This clearly disadvantaged the more artistic and skilled contributions beyond a healthy extent.
I do think that popularity by itself should be allowed to have a positive effect though, as it is often a result of commitment and engagement with the community. And engagement is maybe the most important contributor for a positive experience in the LMAC and hence for being attractive to newcomers. However, popularity obviously shouldn't be a too decisive criterium in an art contest and to balance exactly that is for me the key task and purpose that I try to accomplish with the shortlist.
In the long term I'm committed to hand the compilation of the shortlist into community hands too. We basically have to at some point if we continue to grow like we currently do. My pair of eyeballs simply can't scale beyond looking at one collage at a time;) Transferring this to a jury, for example, seems to be an obvious approach, but again involves its own difficulties for which the appropriate solutions have yet to be found.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. It not only helps me to consolidate and share my own thoughts, but also shows me what I will pay even more attention to in the future.
Great to have you all aboard!
Personally, I'm heading over to 'school' to see if I can pick up some tips 😄.
Wonderful to be aboard,
AGHi @shaka,Thanks for that clear explanation of your community goals. It's good for all of us to understand these. As usual, you are completely transparent. Hope you enjoy your vacation.