Announcing Groups, the newest creation from Devious Technology. Available to you in BETA, starting today!

Groups allows you to create your own community within deviantART on whatever topic(s) interest you most. With Groups, you can now have public and private exchanges with your friends, fellow artists, and fans! And best of all… it's FREE!

With Groups you can…

Connect with deviants who share similar interests and passions
Enhance your deviantART community experience
Easily organize and administrate different classes of members

Whether you want to make your own group, or simply join a group, Groups will help you zoom in and magnify the things you love most about deviantART. When you make a group, you get the perks that a founder of any organization would have: you establish the group’s mission, recruit administrators and set the rules. When you join a group, you meet friends and learn from fellow deviants who hold the same interests and passions you do.


A few notes on housekeeping…

BETA: As the BETA title suggests, we are still in the testing phase for Groups and will continue to work out the remaining kinks in the coming weeks. We thank you for your patience as we continue to, as I like to say, "add polish" and bring every deviant a better deviantART experience.

ONE AT A TIME: To ensure that we preserve the integrity of Groups, there is an application process to both make a group or convert a club. We're asking that every deviant apply to make or convert a group, one at a time. Currently, making and converting are not immediate processes, as applicants need to hear back from us before their groups go live. Once a deviant has submitted one make or convert application, he or she is restricted from applying to make any more groups during the time it takes to process the initial request. We appreciate your patience during the review period.

SPECIAL THANK YOUS: This epic launch wouldn’t have been possible without deviantART's beta-testers and the clubs that were patient enough to see us struggle through the many technology and design decisions that were needed to invent a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am product. Their feedback was invaluable and led us down the path that you see presented today. We couldn’t have done it without out you. DeviantART loves you!


Groups: The Story of "You’re Home"…

Creating the world’s largest art community has its challenges. Each day we gain 10,000 new deviants and 100,000 new works of art. With so much to see and do, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

Think about it. Every day you enter the metropolis of deviantART. It’s a booming city, with lots of hustle and bustle. The streets are lined with deviations all begging for your attention, with deviants standing by, hoping that you’ll stop and take the time to comment. Some days you buzz around the city chatting, uploading; you’re in high gear… but, on other days you want a quiet place, away from the bustle. A home where you can chill out with other deviants that are just like you; a home where you find folks that love the same work and speak the same language as you do; a home that did not exist on deviantART… Until now!

With Groups, YOU’RE HOME.


What to do next…

Make a group (create a new group)
Convert a club (for current 'Profile Page' clubs)
Groups Directory (search for groups to join — find a home!)


Send them love…

Groups has been a labor of love (and occasionally hate ) for the Devious Technology team. It's been planned for years and it's been in development for over a year, demanding that team members neglect many things in their lives, over-indulge on vices, and eat large quantities of pizza to keep up with the incredible detail such a large project involves. They deserve much love and appreciation for all their efforts. (Say: DT!)

One super excited Ninja,

World AIDS Day began on December 1st, 1988 and is an international event, reminding people that HIV is still widely prevalent and affects millions of people worldwide.

According to Avert.org, there are 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008, some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before age 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35..

The World AIDS Day theme for 2009 is Universal Access and Human Rights. DeviantART supports World AIDS Day by providing an opportunity for everyone to take action and ensure that human rights are protected and that global targets for HIV & AIDS prevention, treatment, and care are met.

In recognition of Worlds AIDS Day 2009, deviantART is proud to partner with Globalgiving.com. We will donate $1 from each deviantWEAR and Print sale made on December 1st, 2009 to the (RED) Project, supporting AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa. This project supports comprehensive Global Fund-financed AIDS programs in Ghana, Lesotho, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia, with a focus on providing HIV prevention and treatment services to women and children. We invite you to support this cause as well as supporting your favorite artists.



In addition, we're also going to launch a contest focussing on the theme of Universal Access and Human Rights. There will be 2 chances for you to take part in raising awareness for these issues, so keep your eyes peeled for the official news article!

If that isn't enough to keep you busy, don't forget we have some really great contests still running:

Wacom: Bring Your Vision to Life - Dreams contest
Darksiders - Your Last Days contest
Love Unites Print Remix Contest with Shepard Fairey

WELCOME MEMBERS!

After much feedback from the community, we've created a new Groups social class called Members. Feedback from Groups alpha testers told us that many deviants wanted a social class that was unlimited in size, welcomed deviants to contribute content, but required little effort from group administrators. So, we've answered with gusto! Say it with me... “Me-me-me-mem—members!”


BREAK IT DOWN!

With the addition of this new class, here's how a group’s hierarchy pans out:

1. Administration
Founder
Co-Founders
Moderators (Super Groups only)
Contributors

2. Members

3. Watchers

The Administration makes the group, manages the group, reviews contributed content, and sets member privileges. Admins can access the Admin Area and will receive Groups activity in new admin folders within the Message Center.

The Members class consists of group fans that can contribute content, but can’t manage members or access the Admin Area.

Watchers can passively watch a group and receive group activity in the Message Center.


OH NO U DIDN'T!

First person to say Groupies loses 42 cool points.

~Heidi

Message Center Enhancements!

A deviant's Message Center is his or her portal into the deviantART community. It's similar to a deviantART-specific inbox that pulls in various details and information deviants have 'subscribed' to in some manner -- through +watching other deviants, commenting on news articles or forum posts, getting alerted about special contests or events via Hot Topics, and so on. The Message Center is a one stop shop for news and updates and is often the very first page deviants check when visiting the site.

However, Super Deviants (like those who frequent #hq) might find it more difficult to manage their Message Center experiences. The longer someone has been a deviant and the more active he or she is in the community, the greater the chance that the deviant's Message Center has become bogged down with messages and notices that are less relevant. Kind of like getting junk mail in your inbox.

Until now!

Those crafty Devious Technology guys have developed a couple of simple tools that allow for better Message Center management.


1. Pick and choose what you'd like to be notified about.

Let's use $trowlandson (Tom) as an example. I like Tom. He's a good writer. He occasionally puts out interesting journals that I enjoy reading. His art, however, leaves much to be desired. I don't want to see it. It clogs up my Message Center and I'm tired of having to 'X' out of it. With the new Message Center enhancements, I can easily pick and choose which of Tom's updates I'd like to receive.

Yes to journals.
No to deviations.
Yes to critiques.
No to scraps.

Less chaos and more organization. Fine-tuning for the win!





2. Added control for more power.

Because of this extra control, you'll be able to +watch more deviants that are relevant to your interests. Ultimately, maximizing your deviantART experience -- which is what we all want. Plus, for those pesky friends (you know, like Tom) you can even choose to "remove all deviations by $trowlandson to keep things extra clean.





Get organized! Visit your Message Center now and look for the down arrow to get started!

~Heidi

P.S. - Tom is a good sport.

A bit of controversy for a controversial artist. But this is the joy of having Shepard among us here on deviantART. Josh Wattles, deviantART's Adviser in Chief, had the following to say in response to many of the comments in the Love Unites Contest Announcement Article, I thought I'd repeat it here for you, quoted from his comment found here. -- $spyed


You can hold whatever opinion you want about Shepard Fairey but the bottom line is that he is an extraordinarily accomplished graphic artist dedicated to political and social activism. His poster for Obama is one of the most extraordinary and dramatic contributions of graphic art as an agent for change and it was one of the engines that drove Obama's successful campaign to become the first African American President.

Artists are people, people make mistakes. Shepard Fairey may have made his share. His art is highly controversial just like Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, etc. and make no mistake this is the caliber of artist we are talking about.

Shepard's art is in every major contemporary art museum in the United States. His portrait of Obama hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. His achievements in the arts are many.

I'm not saying he's right or wrong, or will win or lose his law suit; I am saying he is an artist of distinction. We are a great art community. And he should feel welcomed here.

I can also say that deviantART has been in touch with top copyright lawyers about the Shepard Fairey law suit involving the AP photo of Obama and an analysis of the law of copyright in that case strongly suggests that Shepard's use of the photograph is called "Fair Use." That doesn't mean he didn't use the photograph, but it does mean that copyright law permits that kind of use. He is now represented by the top copyright professor at Harvard University Law School which is the top law school in the United States. The professor is representing Shepard without charge. Presumably he believes he will win the case.

What does this mean for deviants who are deeply concerned about art theft?

It means you should pay very close attention to the Shepard Fairey
case and how it works its way through the courts, much like we will be.

- Josh ($makepictures)

-
Josh Wattles
Adviser in Chief
deviantART