Joan Stark

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Joan G. Stark, also known by her pseudonym Spunk or her initials jgs, is a prolific ASCII artist.

The newsgroup alt.ascii.art has dubbed her "Queen of ASCII art".[citation needed]

Stark was first exposed to the art of ASCII in the summer of 1995 and by July 1996 had taken to the creation of ASCII art. From 1996-2003 she created several hundred works of art, most of which were posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.ascii.art. Between 1996 and 1998 her "well-organized" website, which she updated at least once a month, received over 250,000 unique visitors.[1] Stark's involvement in ASCII art has been taken as an example of increased online participation by women, and her imagery as an example of ASCII art becoming "softer, more stereotypically feminine."[2]

Stark works primarily in white-on-black, but creates in color as well. Many of her works have a folk art quality.[1] She works free-hand, with an average of 15-20 minutes at the keyboard apiece.[1]

Her website reports that it has not been updated since June of 2001.

[edit] References

  • Freedman, Alan (2001). Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, 9th Ed. Osborne/McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-219306-9.
  1. ^ a b c Brenda Danet (2001). Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online. Berg Publishers. ISBN 1-85973-424-3. 
  2. ^ Eric W. Rothenbuhler (2005). Media Anthropology, Mihai Coman, Sage Publications. ISBN 1412906709. 

[edit] External links

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