What Pinpointer Is		How to Use It
Pinpointer is how you find the richer forms of content that are now appearing on the Internet–like music, audiovisual material, and significant online writing–that you're not already familiar with via the traditional media. Until now, there hasn't been a good way to browse this type of web-published independent new material. Why not use a search engine? Search engines are good for finding simple factoids: what's the capital of Albania, what are the symptoms of gout, etc.  They can also help you find something you're already familiar with via the traditional big media, like a hit song you hear all the time on the radio. Search engines are not very useful, though, for putting you in touch with independently web-published material you might enjoy. That's because any search engine is ultimately just a computer program–and how can a program judge what's a good song, a beautiful painting, or an insightful piece of writing? How Pinpointer is different Pinpointer is a patents-pending system that organizes human judgment in ways that weren't feasible until very recently. It sets an army of independent "taste mavens" beating the bushes for interesting web-published material. These people recommend the best of what they've found on Pinpointer. Because not all opinions are of equal value to all people, you get to pick whose recommendations you want to explore. You might be interested in new, as-yet unheard of songs that a noted music critic for a magazine like Rolling Stone recommends. Then again, you might prefer to check the recommendations of a musician whose work you enjoy...or someone who books bands for a club... or a savvy record store clerk... or even a personal friend. At the same time you choose a recommender, you also specify other characteristics of what you're looking for–for example, Latin Jazz, or Music Featuring Guitar Solos. You can also look for music that's well-suited to some particular occasion, like Party Music or Road Trip Music. You can combine as many of these characteristics as you like. You end up finding a wealth of new material you didn't know was out there—material that's likely to appeal to your own personal tastes. Our Initial Focus We're starting out demonstrating the Pinpointer principle with the visual arts in Southern California. Why this subject? A lot of painting, sculpture, photography, and other artwork is actually being created in the Los Angeles area, but almost nobody knows where to find it. Southern California is so spread out that people don't know where the main gallery districts are–much less which specific galleries or individual artists they might enjoy. Pinpointer will change the equation. We'll make it easy for people to find real art, genuinely in line with their own personal interests and tastes, rather than having to settle for generic "wall hangings" from a furniture store. We've pre-seeded our database with information on most of the galleries in Southern California, plus a few individual artists' web sites, as well as recommendations for selected individual artworks that provide good illustrations of our various art categories.  Note to gallery owners: assuming that anything that appears on your web site is by definition something you'd recommend, we've taken the liberty of making some of the initial recommendations in your name. If for any reason you object to this, please let us know, and we'll change the attribution of the recommendations. You can recommend material as well as browse it Whether you're a gallery operator, an individual artist, an art writer or instructor, or just somebody who'd like to share something you've found online, we encourage you to get a free login account and start making your knowledge and judgment available to other people. You don't have to own an item, nor does it have to be physically hanging on your wall, in order for you to recommend it. NOTE: We plan to eventually pay our recommenders, based on how many people rely on their recommendations. Establishing yourself as a trusted recommender now is a good way to position yourself for an income later on. BUT PLEASE ALSO NOTE: It's important not to just indiscriminately recommend too many things. People will choose you as a recommender only if they trust your taste. To become trusted enough to make money, you need to be selective. Getting Into Music Music will likely be the first major area where we can start paying our recommenders, based on generating revenues of our own. We've had major online music sites express interest in working with Pinpointer, but we feel we'd be better matched with one or more sites that focus specifically on independent music—i.e., the kind the doesn't come from traditional major record labels, and isn't already heard everywhere on the radio. In this kind of arrangement, we could pay our recommenders a much more attractive rate, and even more important, ensure that the recording artists themselves get the lion's share of the proceeds (instead of almost nothing, as they do under current arrangements with the major record labels). While we're waiting for this type of partnership to emerge, we can also direct users to independent recording artists' own sites, if they provide a way for users to hear and buy their music. The only type of relationship that's completely out of the question is one that involves illegal downloads.  Our mission is to enable independent producers of content to succeed–not to exploit them, and not to assist anyone else in exploiting them.		The dark blue menu bar in the upper portion of the screen is the primary way you'll choose what you want to do in Pinpointer.  Here are the options that are now available: General Web is a screen that will take you to any type of content that's been recommended on Pinpointer. Art is the same general screen as General Web, but adapted to present the material in slightly more useful ways--with the artists' names in a fixed place, with thumbnail images available for you to preview, plus a way for you to specify how far you're willing to drive to see the art, etc. Music, like Art, is a tailored variant of the General Web screen. It's currently only in demonstration form. Update is your gateway to all functions that require you to log on. These include recommending material, maintaining information about yourself and your account, etc. BROWSER NOTE: This site has been developed for use with Microsoft Internet Explorer. We plan to accommodate other browsers in the future, but those enhancements cost money, and we have a limited budget. Since virtually everyone already has Internet Explorer, we feel we can give better overall service at this point by linking people with more categories of content than by accommodating more browser preferences.