Welcoming Committee - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/10/2007 05:33:22 PM · #1

From here

Originally posted by Gordon:

I know there's something of an urban myth that the people at the low end of the scale are getting education to help when they submit their image, get a score in the 4s and no comments.

I'd question the educational value of that. Now, if someone was going through the bottom 25% each week, contacting them, seeing if
1/ they actually wanted help/feedback
2/ trying to answer their questions or issues

then I might buy in to the educational aspect of the challenges.

But 100 people saying 'bad' vs. 5 jurors saying 'bad' is equally useful(useless)

I could see a more useful teaching aspect and a more useful challenge aspect coming out of this, but it would require some people set up as somewhat arbitary judges of taste /quality and helping those that don't make it in to the main 'show' each week.

If we had a "welcoming committee" whose job is was to do exactly this, do you think that would be helpful? More to the point, would you be willing to participate? If so, what tools do you think would be necessary to make it happen?

These questions are for everyone, not just

Gordon.

For a long time, we've been trying to figure out how to morph the Critique Club into something more relevant to its participants. Perhaps this could be part of the answer?

I welcome thoughts on this.

~Terry

Message edited by author 2007-11-10 17:33:39.

hanneke

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/10/2007 05:38:01 PM · #2

I'm sorry, I don't get it?

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/10/2007 05:40:09 PM · #3

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:

For a long time, we've been trying to figure out how to morph the Critique Club into something more relevant to its participants. Perhaps this could be part of the answer?

I welcome thoughts on this.

~Terry

One fairly simple way to put this into action would be to eliminate the CC sign-up checkbox, and make the CC queue a random assignment from among photos which finish below the 50th (or whatever) percentile during the previous week's challenges.

joynim

Olympus E-500 EVOLT

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

11/10/2007 05:58:04 PM · #4

If you are thinking of ways to make new people feel welcome what about some kind of buddy system. More established people sign up to be a buddy and get asigned to a new person. They can be a friendly face around the forums and a go to person for all the questions a newbie can have about dpchallenge. It could be a voluntary thing ie when someone new signs up they could check a box asking if they would like a buddy

11/10/2007 05:58:32 PM · #5

Originally posted by biteme:

I'm sorry, I don't get it?

Sorry, let me try explaining a different way.

The idea I have in my head is a group of people who reach out via PM to newbies, and/or users who may be struggling in one form or another. The absolute most important thing would be to welcome them, but also to point them to resources that might help them, such as tutorials, forum threads, and the like, and also offer to be an informal point of contact if they have questions. This might include teaching them about voting and commenting as a way to improve by becoming more critical of one's own work.

It might also combine with some criteria applied to being eligible to receive critiques, such as the idea GeneralE mentioned above, and/or perhaps some manual process like committee members asking if the person wants help, and adding them for some period of time if the person replies that they do. This would improve the chances of them receiving a critique, and also make the process more rewarding for those writing them, since they'd know the recipient really wants the help.

~Terry

Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS USM

11/10/2007 08:16:39 PM · #6

Bump to see if anyone likes this idea, or if not, perhaps some insight into why?

rex

Canon PowerShot SD780

11/10/2007 08:22:46 PM · #7

I like the idea. I am a member of the Critique Club but stopped doing that because I think most people just click that option not knowing what they are doing and they never even acknowledge the critique.

I would be willing to help if needed but also like

GeneralE's idea that we need to make sure they want help before we invest time into helping them.

Message edited by author 2007-11-10 20:23:12.

rider

Canon EOS-7D

11/10/2007 08:35:34 PM · #8

I think it would be a good idea in a way------you would have to have someone doing it that would be well taught and able to express themselves very clearly though---i know that i usually don't score well but get contidictory comments so wich comment should you believe? know what i mean then there are times where the commenter kind of misses the point of what i was saying with my shot. It must also be remembered that a shot that does not score well is not always a bad shot'i remember someone saying they threw in an adams shot in 1 of the challenges and it did porely. sorry in advance if i spelled something wrong! lol

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/10/2007 08:55:55 PM · #9

Originally posted by rider:

It must also be remembered that a shot that does not score well is not always a bad shot'i remember someone saying they threw in an adams shot in 1 of the challenges and it did porely.

The Ansel Adams a "ringer" suggested by

Bear_Music and entered into the mix by Site Council. It finished in 11th place out of 289 entries, with a score of 6.6573, but was of course disqualified due being taken outside the challenge dates, and the fact that the photographer is dead (we have a strict policy against ghost accounts). This was not bad at all, especially considering that the image had to be up-sampled for submission, and the process introduced some posterization in the sky.

The post-challenge announcement: Ansel Adams in the Ansel Adams Challenge

The entry (better known as Church, Taos Pueblo):

~Terry

Message edited by author 2007-11-10 20:59:09.

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

11/10/2007 10:26:17 PM · #10

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
For a long time, we've been trying to figure out how to morph the Critique Club into something more relevant to its participants. Perhaps this could be part of the answer?

I welcome thoughts on this.

~Terry

One fairly simple way to put this into action would be to eliminate the CC sign-up checkbox, and make the CC queue a random assignment from among photos which finish below the 50th (or whatever) percentile during the previous week's challenges.

GeneralE's suggestion is a very good idea. I'd also suggest that, as in any educational process, Critique Club feedback should include required input from the photog first initiated via a form-letter PM like so:

"Hi,

This is a note from the Critique Club. I'll be critiquing your photo, but before I do please respond to this PM and let me know wht your motivation was for taking this photo, any technical specifics you would like to share (setup, lighting, etc) and any other input you feel may allow me to give you a more informed and helpful critique of your entry"

True learning requires input from both student and teacher, otherwise the student could just go buy a book.

Message edited by author 2007-11-10 22:27:06.

fotomann_forever

11/10/2007 11:01:59 PM · #11

I think Gordon is definitely onto something and as you are suggesting Terry would be a good direction for the critique club.

Tools needed?
A filter to isolate the lower scoring images.
Perhaps a way to weed out those purposely going for brown... no idea how to automate that.

Perhaps the system could automatically send out a message to the photogs of the low scoring entries and have them click a link to confirm they would like help before the image is added to the queue?

Just throwing ideas out, but overall love the idea. Good idea Gordon, good catch Terry.

ursula

Fujifilm X-T2

Fujifilm XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

11/10/2007 11:18:13 PM · #12

Originally posted by fotomann_forever:

Perhaps a way to weed out those purposely going for brown... no idea how to automate that.

Just a little sidenote, but, no, I don't much care for a weeding out of any entries purposely going for brown (even if it could be done). At least some of the people doing this are genuinely funny people, and really nice too, and, if that's what they want to do, why not? I like to laugh, and I really wouldn't want DPC to turn into an "oh so serious and proper" place that you couldn't even try to go for the brown anymore.

:)