began preliminary reading for the Drunken Boat web art awards (final judge Talan Memmott) -- already, just checking first entry, curious about SOURCE

i.e., the huge amount of text and image web art demands -- what happens when it is as readily available as the initial search engine results flarf is built from?

finally I think this makes the works which are like this closer to a not-terribly academically researched cultural studies project than an art work;

for example during the rise of humanism over scolasticism, this type of problem also occurred, but I do not think that search-engine-mediated research {especially when, by and large, "first" results are used almost exclusively) can replace other types of research --

although I think academic research must change (it is changing) -- for example, it is not as difficult anymore, and even the market is saying the nuances of research -- say in the old library science degrees, or even advanced humanities research -- are no longer special enough to be worth anything

so -- beyond the source -- easy research is like art in that it relies on the preconceived notions of the searcher more closely than a long term search which in all likelihood changes the searcher during the process -- often some revelation is sought, as well as some finish or accomplishment

now, of course, aside from the basic concern with the source material of art, I do have a great deal of interest in / respect for use of source material, particularly of that found online -- for example, one of the things I loved about MYST was that its incidental sound effects (among other things) were the canned ones readily available on most computers at the time -- the familiar click in the unfamiliar world of the game