By Stephanie Reid
Maps
are everywhere. We live in a map. We form parts of a map of our society,
country and even our world. Maps are imagined differently – from dragons in Expeditionis Navtica to pre-Columbus notions of how America’s geography was laid out. Maps help to
link us to other places and people. They are powerful things, as we perceive
them as being representations of reality (Kuttainen, 2015).
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| Source: history-map.com |
As
a flaneur (Definition)
within the social media sites that the World Wide Web has to offer, it has
become increasingly obvious that all that the web has to offer are linked
together in a massive map – or web. Just like how colonization by the British
gave them power over countries like the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, having
power over one network will start to grant you power over many other networks.
However, according to G. Barnes (1997), this sort of cyber mapping
‘exists only as a
cognitive map’. If you are not within these social networks, the power that
they hold probably would not affect you. You most likely do not even flutter an
eyelid when the Kardashians are mentioned. You would not even know about the most recent viral
video - all landmarks on the map of the web.
That shows the difference between someone like myself, and someone
that does not involve themselves in the social media that the web has to offer.
I can see the way that my peers idolise reality show TV stars, or how they
stalk people on the internet, or how they are cyber bullied. But to those that
know nothing of the internet, they are unaffected and are generally unawares of
what happens. These days, even Twitter blasts news well before the local news
stations does! (Boston Marathon Bombing) Unless your mind is involved in the
massive maps of social media, generally you just do not care.
References
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks,
Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Maps. [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/
Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the Cyber-Flaneur. Raynbird.com. Retrieved 18 August 2015, from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html
Dictionary.com,. (2015). the definition of flaneur. Retrieved 20 August 2015, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/flaneur
Rogers, S. (2013). The Boston Bombing: How journalists used Twitter to tell the story | Twitter Blogs. Blog.twitter.com. Retrieved 20 August 2015, from https://blog.twitter.com/2013/the-boston-bombing-how-journalists-used-twitter-to-tell-the-story
Rogers, S. (2013). The Boston Bombing: How journalists used Twitter to tell the story | Twitter Blogs. Blog.twitter.com. Retrieved 20 August 2015, from https://blog.twitter.com/2013/the-boston-bombing-how-journalists-used-twitter-to-tell-the-story
Image Credits
History-map.com,. (2015). Retrieved 20 August 2015, from http://www.history-map.com/picture/002/pictures/American-Indian-Map.jpg
Your blog had an interesting focus on the power that maps exert on our perception of reality, and this was demonstrated well through referencing Kuttainen (2015) and linking the concept with Barnes (1997). When discussing Barnes (1997), you stated that "If you are not within these social networks, the power that they hold would probably not affect you". I completely agree with this statement and believe that social networking is a powerful map that can heavily influence our perception on reality if we are a part of a social network.
ReplyDeleteThis made it clear that the purpose of a map is valued over its amount of content and this was an interesting concept discussed in the Wood et al (2006) reading that defined a map as being a description of something that can be validated and powerful to the user, based on its purpose to the user.
References:
Barnes, G. (1997). Passage of the Cyber-Flaneur. Raynbird.com. Retrieved 18 August 2015, from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 4: Maps. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/
Wood, D., Kaiser, W. L., & Abramms, B. (2006). Seeing through maps: Many ways to see the world. New Internationalist.