Share & Share Alike

I recently came across two websites that work purely by having the general public provide the content. Nothing New. Both are photographic based looking at content readily available in the public domain, but where one is looking for mulitples of the same the other is searching for the unique. I Have That Same Picture opens with a simple yet effective page showing twelve polaroid style photographs, each at a different tourist attraction around the world. Selecting a location and clicking through all the photos submitted of that very same locale, it is immediately apparent that as tourists there is but one place to stand for said location. While some people are just filling in air, others try to have a little fun with their poses. Pictures of Walls however is a catalogue of mainly urban graffiti, encompassing everything from the drunken marker pen scrawl on a bathroom wall to political statements of unavoidable vistas to inventive use of peeling paint revealling hidden faces. As you move through the images of whispered feelings and projectile notions, a pattern between the locations and their inner thoughts emerge. Everyone has an agenda from social awareness to marketing their art to telling the ex you still love them. Whatever your reason, I'm glad your all doing it. I expect to see book versions of both these websites in an Urban Outfitters very soon.