Book Review: "Online Evaluation of Creativity and the Arts" by Hiesun Cecilia Suhr (ed.)

Anna Jobin, Laboratory of Digital Cultures and Humanities, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

anna.jobin@unil.ch

NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Digital Scholarship in the 

Humanities. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural 

formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. The definitive version has been

accepted for publication in Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, DOI: 10.1093/llc/fqv024.

http://dsh.oxfordjournals.org/
mailto:anna.jobin@unil.ch


This book ambitiously sets out to give an overview of the potential, as well as the limitations and challenges, of 'online 

evaluation cultures' in eight chapters focusing on 'creativity and the arts'. In the introduction the author and contributing 

author Hiesun Cecilia Suhr outlines the motivation and scope of the book and also argues that for artists building a 

reputation – built on evaluation and judgment – is of economic importance. Because digital environments help build 

such a reputation, she continues, there needs to be interdisciplinary understanding of these digital environments with 

regard to their 'evaluation cultures'. The collection includes diverse contributions covering the 'different creative fields' 

of visual art, music, photography, makeup tutorials, design, fashion blogging, reputation ranking and game design. In an

attempt to unite the different chapters, the introduction identifies five distinct dimensions that are related to online 

evaluation, on the grounds that all chapters 'intersect with at least one of the five aspects'.

The first of these aspects is linked to the materiality of the medium and its role in the modalities of 

communication-evaluation practice. Joseph Reagle's chapter about one particular online gallery might be seen to fit 

within this particular aspect. Reagle's contribution is an interesting account of how an online user community assesses 

the potential implications of different possible technical implementations of a rating system for pictures. Limitations of 

the current standard solutions for online evaluations – 'liking' and commenting – for nuanced feedback and evaluation 

are repeated assertions throughout the book and this is most apparent in the chapters about visual arts and online music 

contests. Linda Vigor's pertinent examination of art studio critique sessions and its comparison to the feedback that is 

enabled by online visual art websites demonstrates that different settings influence the nature of feedback beyond 

explicit divergent rules and instructions. While music contests are nothing new, according to Suhr the nature and 

process of an online-based contest may impact profoundly on the way that the music is evaluated. Another example, 

given by Ramon Reichert, are YouTube makeup tutorials which, through by their online format and the characteristics 

that come with it, he says blur classic conceptions of production and reception.

The second and third aspects used to unite the work presented are social dimension and power and politics 

respectively. Evaluation, in any given form, is not only a matter of individual taste but also one of social convention, 

which can, of course, be both explicit and implicit. In her compelling contribution about fashion bloggers, Brooke Erin 

Duffy makes a thorough examination of social norms and their enactment within a specific online community of 

practice. Of particular interest – and reminiscent of the first aspect – is her depiction of how some of these norms are 

entangled with the technological specificity of blogging where links, comments and ‘likes’ are not only a means to 

express feedback, but also a way to augment a website's reputation and economic status. Helen Kennedy broaches 

power and politics in her contribution, through a nuanced account of anti-spec movements and their importance for 

rejecting non-compensated design competitions and spec work. Spec, or speculative, work describes the potentially 

unpaid labour solicited by such design competitions where compensated work has become the prize. In providing a 

closer look at this topic, her chapter shows how different discourses about spec work reflect powerful social dynamics. 

Notably, spec work also overlaps with the fourth aspect identified in the introduction as related to online evaluation; 

tension 'between creativity and the commercial market'. Kennedy outlines how the tendency to glorify the 'amateur 

culture' contributes to a legitimization of spec work which, in turn, increases the precarity of creative work and 

undermines the ethics of professional creative labour. 

Evaluation as learning opportunity is identified as the fifth aspect related to online evaluation. While a running 

thread throughout the work, this approach is most explicitly examined in the chapters concerning visual art and spec 

work. Vigor's research on critique in the visual arts explains how cognitive and structural components intersect and 

impact the possible level of learning that can be derived from any evaluation. Online spec work, as illustrated in 

Kennedy’s chapter, inhibits the learning process that is indispensable to professional design work. The same aspect, 

however, also appears in another light, because obviously other contexts result in participants appreciating online-based 



evaluation for the learning opportunity it provides, as is highlighted in Trammell's contribution on online board game 

design forums. In fashion blogging, it is the participants' hope of learning something that comes to form a large part of 

their motivation.

The five aspects highlighted above are very different in nature. Some relate clearly to the declared topic of the 

book, whereas others are generic analytical dimensions of human practice and representations. Using a mixture of 

central aspects in this way makes for an interestingly broad perspective, as does the wide range of topics addressed. The

breadth of topics here might serve as exploratory groundwork for further addressing complex issues such as evaluative 

processes in digital environments. Indeed, Suhr takes the opportunity to call for interdisciplinarity and non-binary 

modes of inquiry in her contribution to this ambitious book.

One might, however, also argue that instead of giving an overview, the large scope of the work results in a 

volume where it is hard to see an obvious relationship between the various contributions. Because several contributions 

broaden the basic concepts to which the book is addressed even further, be it evaluation or creativity, it can be quite 

hard to grasp its scope. Alessandro Gandini's pertinent study 'Critique on Klout', for example, is a discussion of whether

social media metrics of influence are correlated to offline networks. Admittedly this is of 'freelance creatives', but it 

strays a long way from addressing creativity and the arts. 

In conclusion, while appreciating the breadth of study, this reviewer became confused in the mix of chapters 

thematizing evaluation of an online practice and chapters focusing on online evaluation as a practice. The distinction of 

these is, unfortunately, not well made for the reader and the use of the five aspects in attempting to categorize the work 

does not achieve this. While I cannot recommend the book as a coherent volume on digital evaluation of creative and 

artistic practices, there are individual chapters that have merit and the breadth of the work might be useful for the 

exploration of the different topics addressed going forward.


	Book Review: "Online Evaluation of Creativity and the Arts" by Hiesun Cecilia Suhr (ed.)