Week 11 Photo: Hidden

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Hidden. #networkedmedia #rmit #doors #tbhimgladthisisnearlyover

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How did you author the photo you recorded for upload to Instagram?

I authored this photo using the rear-facing camera on my iPhone 6S, all within the Instagram app.

I found this door by wandering through the Old Melbourne Gaol, past the door from last week, and to the side of what I think is Building 13.

Following the theme I set for myself last week, I placed the door on the right of the photo. For colour editing, I chose green for the shadows to emphasise the plant on the left of the photo, and orange for the highlights to put some warmth into the white building. I used the Adjust feature to make sure the door was straight, added a quick vignette and then added a linear blur (which I think looks awesome with the plant in the foreground).

I still don’t think this photo lives up to my first photo, but I think it’s better than last week’s.

How did you publish the photo you recorded for Instagram?

My first instinct was to take a photo of this door with it right in the centre. However, I soon remembered my theme and retook it with the door on the right side of the frame. It actually worked out for the better because I was able to get the plant in the photo, which created a nice contrast to the white building.

My one-word caption for this week is ‘Hidden’ because I think the blurred foreground plant makes it look as though I had to sneak through a jungle to find this pristine white building. The caption also works because I don’t think this is a very well-known door. I don’t even know if it works or is just decorative. Every time I’ve been here, there’s been no one.

My usual hashtags were used once again, however my ‘thoughts’ hashtag was a little more negative than past weeks. Where Week 9 was the funny and artificially desperate #thisismysecondinstagramposteverplshelp, and Week 10 was the self-aware #amithematicyet, Week 11 is just my thoughts on uni in general: #tbhimgladthisisnearlyover.

How did you distribute the photo you published on Instagram to other social media services?

As always, during the captioning and tagging phase of creating this photo, I simply switched on the buttons to share the photo to my linked Facebook and Twitter accounts. Easy as pie.

Swiping those buttons made me remember something. The first time those switches appeared on my old iPod Touch, I was confused how to use them. In the beginning, I would simply tap each one. Then I would over swipe. Now, my thumb knows exact how to swipe each one.

In Seth’s summary post from this week, he talks about affordances and their hierarchy. Hardware affords certain actions. Take for example, a smartphone, which affords tapping, zooming, scrolling, etc. Software, working within the constraints of the hardware, has its own affordances – things like sharing photos, typing notes, recording video, etc. What I found interesting was that the physical affordances of the hardware are then used to create intangible affordances in the software, which map our interactions. Eventually, these interactions become ingrained in our physical bodies.

Using a mouse is second nature to me. When I first opened up Mediafactory in Week 1, it felt relatively intuitive and simple to use because it looked similar to the book review writing page on Goodreads, a platform I am very familiar with. Perhaps that subconsciously influenced me to write my first blog post about book reviews.

Outside this class…

My mum has an Instagram account, on which she posts her handmade cards. Recently, she’s gotten more into it and keeps asking me how to do things. I told her that she should use the Story feature, despite the fact I’ve never actually used it myself.

Just recently, her card was featured in a video on the stamp manufacturer’s Instagram account.

I find it funny that, after this class, I can tell her how to use Instagram, despite the fact I’ve barely used it myself.

On a serious note, I appreciate this class for the new perspectives it has given me on design and the internet that increasingly grows and surrounds us. I think it provided me valuable information on the network as a whole and a platform that I don’t use but one day, most likely will.

I would write a better conclusion, but it’s Week 11.

Tune in tomorrow for my video post.

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