Friday 28 August 2015

A Single Story Of Place


By Tyler Leese


This week’s readings discussed in great detail, the values and significance in which words, speech and descriptions can create place and a literary picture of meaning through narrative.
Instagram is among a plethora of virtual networks where users can show, describe and tell stories with words of significance and meaning which encapsulate their photos or videos, into moments. I am lucky enough to follow and be followed by great people on Instagram who share their experiences and place my mind into their moments. Each user embarks on a journey to share their daily life with the digital world and capture the imaginations of their followers and friends through their words. Reading is a great form literary visualization, in which the author takes the reader on a journey or ethnographical experience and uses words to form understanding and meaning for the reader. Recently, a friend on Instagram and also offline, went abroad to photograph and film houses in Beverly Hills, and neighboring regions, for his Australian television program on channel 7. His montage of images posted on Instagram, along with vivid descriptions and stories, created a clear narrative of his travels, which assisted in the building of his social capital with new connections and a wider audience.


Virtual networks provide the user with the opportunity to create a narrative on life, this may be fictional in its entirety, but tells a story which orients the reader. Instagram, along with mainly all social networks, is a platform for which users can create a sense of one’s self, using the narratives we tell our followers (Kuttainen, 2015). These narratives can be told through the depiction of multimedia and words, which complement each other. Speaking from a metaphorical perspective, the reading by Tuan gives mention to the concept that speech is a component of the process which transforms space into place (Tuan, 1991). The same principle applies in narratives, however this time, the words are giving place and meaning to the reader. In conclusion, virtual networks are an ever evolving story of one’s life, just as magazines such as The Home and The Queenslander in the 1930’s were a growing publication, virtual networks are also a publication, however the future will depend on if these publications will continue to grow.


References:
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Week 5: Stories and Places (PowerPoint Presentation). Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au

Tuan, Y. (1991). Annals of the Association of American Geographers [Adobe Digital Editions version]. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2563430.pdf


Image Reference:

The Harwood Institute Of Public Innovation. Covering Communities [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.coveringcommunities.org/images/master%20narratives.png

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