Bennett Williamson of the Double Happiness blog, commenting at Paddy's:
I think that non-artist online groups like 4chan and other lulz/meme related outfits also generate and popularize a lot of the content that later become more general cultural memes (generally jokes, as opposed to more ‘artistic’ content).
Web art actions (ranging in form from making posts to the techniques used to cull materials) often subvert standard web use practices, sometimes doing things ‘wrong,’ taking the long way around, noticing patterns, using online tools for non-functional ends, and getting caught up on aesthetic/presentation in places where information is supposed to be paramount.
In terms of a Future for the Internet, I wonder if online art will follow the path of the meme and be able to bring its ideas into a larger artistic/cultural conversation about media (I hope so) without getting lumped in with the expectation that ideas and culture that start on the internet have to be for entertainment or be funny (I hope not.)
Thanks, that responds to:
1. Issues in the Nasty Nets Halloween thread that were never fully discussed because people were fighting.
2. Some issues posed on Rhizome* to Marisa Olson and other surf bloggers.
3. This post about the differences between the surf blogs and B3TA, 4Chan, ebaum's world, or somethingawful.com.
*Update, 2011: The Rhizome link has been changed to http://rhizome.org/editorial/2008/apr/9/let-it-spin/