An important reminder for everyone, including those interested in Sardinia and Sardinian handwoven textiles: Don’t believe everything you see online.
Today on social media I saw yet more AI-generated content with incorrect, misleading information about Sardinia and supposed (not actual) women handweaving artists. I’ll try to not rant too much, and just implore: Don’t believe everything you see online.
Know and trust your online sources. Ensure they’re real. Ensure your sources have the knowledge and experience they say they do. Ensure their content is valid, truthful, and not scraped from others. If you’re interested in handwoven textiles, make certain you and the seller/maker share the same definition of “handwoven”.
I see an increasing number of sites and social profiles that use gen AI to fabricate content about Sardinia. Their text and photos are too often inaccurate and misleading. In addition, AI-generated content about Sardinian textiles often scrapes from carefully-curated sites built by artists and their supporters without concern for artists, their work, or their rights.* Online reviews and images of Sardinian places and properties can be falsified easily — and too often are. Sadly, I’ve had to console and gently re-educate a number of folks who have made reservations or purchases in Sardinia based on misinformation they found online and didn’t verify.
Brief examples:
• You scroll online and see photo of women at a loom, supposedly in Samugheo, with a window opening to the sea and text describing the scent of the sea influencing the textiles? Fake.
• A real estate site shows you a supposed listing for a house in Samugheo (or elsewhere in the island’s center) with a sunset vista of the ocean. Fake.
Samugheo is not anywhere near the sea. You can’t see or smell the ocean from Samugheo or other places in the center of the island.
As always, the best sources of information are experienced, trustworthy humans you know.
Sardinian Arts and all that I write, share, and post are human-created and human-focused, based upon my extensive in-person experience and travels in Sardinia, my good fortune in having met many friends on the island, and my continuing exploration of the many gifts Sardinia offers.
Don’t believe everything you see social media. Check sources. Get to know the people you meet online. Work with human beings you know and trust. People with experience, heart, and soul.
~ Kelly Manjula Koza
*I don’t scrape from other sites. Several sites posting all AI-generated content scrape from SardinianArts.com, however 🙁