P
photomark
I'm trying to crack the clique and become an editor but it strikes me as a closed shop! Let me set the scene; I'm trying to be an editor for the 'photojournalism/music photography' category, a specialist subject concerned primarily with live concert photography and 'promo' shots.
I have both the experience and knowledge to successfully regenerate the category from a stagnant 40 or so random entries into a vibrant resource providing all the links you'd ever need if you were searching the web for music photography. On the internet side, I joined eBay UK in 1999 and worked for 12 months as their Special Events Manager. I also helped test Fotango.com before the full launch. In other words, I know and understand the net. The rest of my life has been spent working as a concert promoter, a job I returned to after I left eBay. In the course of my work, I get to meet a lot of music photographers and I'm sufficiently interested in their work to have gained a reasonable knowledge of the UK scene.
My interest in the ODP came when a music photographer friend submitted her site but it was never listed. I felt that perhaps the editors of the category had lost interest, especially as the current links aren't particularly informed, and that I ought to apply as it was something I could easily excel at.
Initially, I was rejected 'by mistake'. My 'interviewer' was happy to admit pilot error but was unable to re-process the application and suggested I just re-apply. Since then, I have been rejected twice by auto-response messages, once under the original user name and a second time using a different log in.
I'm interested in thoughts on this. Is the application process flawed? Has my initial rejection gone against me? Probably not because it was impossible to link this with my third attempt under a new log-in. Is the ODP a closed shop run by graduates who want to keep it to themselves? Or is the whole concept of self-regulation flawed and the ODP untenable? Maybe you can spot an error in my application? Perhaps I am over qualified? Maybe my objective one-line reviews were just a little too knowledgeable and foul play was suspected? But then I don't need Steve Gullick to list his CV on his site, he is sufficiently well known for me to inform users that he started out at Sounds magazine and has gone on to be the personal photographer of many big stars such as the Prodigy. Maybe the sites I suggested were deemed by a layman to be 'inappropriate'? I don't think so, they were just some of the glaring errors I noticed whilst browsing. Perhaps I'm just 'unlucky'?
Whatever your thoughts on the above, the truth remains that the 'photojournalism/music photography' category needs me whilst it currently does nothing other than stagnate and I'm powerless to act. I'd say the ODP isn't just failing me but is failing itself and its so-called 'Social Contract'. HUMANS do it better? I don't think so!
I have both the experience and knowledge to successfully regenerate the category from a stagnant 40 or so random entries into a vibrant resource providing all the links you'd ever need if you were searching the web for music photography. On the internet side, I joined eBay UK in 1999 and worked for 12 months as their Special Events Manager. I also helped test Fotango.com before the full launch. In other words, I know and understand the net. The rest of my life has been spent working as a concert promoter, a job I returned to after I left eBay. In the course of my work, I get to meet a lot of music photographers and I'm sufficiently interested in their work to have gained a reasonable knowledge of the UK scene.
My interest in the ODP came when a music photographer friend submitted her site but it was never listed. I felt that perhaps the editors of the category had lost interest, especially as the current links aren't particularly informed, and that I ought to apply as it was something I could easily excel at.
Initially, I was rejected 'by mistake'. My 'interviewer' was happy to admit pilot error but was unable to re-process the application and suggested I just re-apply. Since then, I have been rejected twice by auto-response messages, once under the original user name and a second time using a different log in.
I'm interested in thoughts on this. Is the application process flawed? Has my initial rejection gone against me? Probably not because it was impossible to link this with my third attempt under a new log-in. Is the ODP a closed shop run by graduates who want to keep it to themselves? Or is the whole concept of self-regulation flawed and the ODP untenable? Maybe you can spot an error in my application? Perhaps I am over qualified? Maybe my objective one-line reviews were just a little too knowledgeable and foul play was suspected? But then I don't need Steve Gullick to list his CV on his site, he is sufficiently well known for me to inform users that he started out at Sounds magazine and has gone on to be the personal photographer of many big stars such as the Prodigy. Maybe the sites I suggested were deemed by a layman to be 'inappropriate'? I don't think so, they were just some of the glaring errors I noticed whilst browsing. Perhaps I'm just 'unlucky'?
Whatever your thoughts on the above, the truth remains that the 'photojournalism/music photography' category needs me whilst it currently does nothing other than stagnate and I'm powerless to act. I'd say the ODP isn't just failing me but is failing itself and its so-called 'Social Contract'. HUMANS do it better? I don't think so!
