JESSIE CAESAR – S3787379

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services

MAKING MEDIA BLOG LINKS

WEEK NINE – PHOTO
WEEK NINE – VIDEO
WEEK TEN – PHOTO
WEEK TEN – VIDEO
WEEK ELEVEN – PHOTO
WEEK ELEVEN – VIDEO

THIS REPORT RESPONDS DIRECTLY TO THE COURSES PROMPT:

How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

THE AFFORDANCES OF INSTAGRAM AND AUTHORING IN THE AGE OF INSTAGRAMISM (Word Count: 1,192): 

Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger before it was purchased by Facebook in 2012. Since then, it has vastly grown, becoming one of the most popular social networking sites (SNS) – “As the number of Instagram users grew from 30 million in 2012 to 300 million by the end of 2014, it became a valuable advertising and marketing medium. The number of Instagram advertisers increased from 200,000 in 2/2016 to one million in 3/2017 (Manovich, L., 2016, pp. 4).” 

While the platforms popularity continues to grow, with its affordances inspiring a huge change in the world of visual design, it would seem that we have become obsessed with achieving what is called ‘Instagram aesthetic’ in everything possible. “Instagram has become synonymous with visual design and visual experiences. Instagram’s impact has become material, with devices, spaces, cultural institutions and homes all being re-designed and reimagined for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience (Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C., 2020, pp. 150)”.

Our courses prompt of How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network? has a direct relationship with this idea of ‘Instagram aesthetics’, as the affordances of Instagram are what’s used to achieve this aesthetic – ultimately affecting the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed within the network.

In this report, I endeavour to discuss this relationship with our courses prompt, ‘Instagram aesthetics’, how everything in the world has fast become designed to meet this aesthetic in a movement Lev Manovich calls ‘Instagramism’, and how I came to this conclusion over my past semesters findings.

 

When attempt to unpack the courses prompt, How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?, we must break it up into sections to understand it – defining affordances, authoring, publishing, distributing, photo, video and the network in seperate parts.

Affordances refer to the possibilities that technologies present. This quote from Lister’s New Media: A Critical Introduction is the perfect start, when we attempt to understand and define Affordances. “Technology is not all there is to culture, nor does it determine it in some predictable or absolute way; rather, technologies afford cultural possibilities, not all of which are exploited or actualised (Lister, M., 2009, pp.15).” Authoring refers to how a media practitioner produces their work – the creative choices they make along the way, as they take their photo or video. Publishing refers to where the media practitioner publishes or showcases their work. Distributing refers to where and how the media practitioner distributes or shares their work to, or with. In this case, publishing and distribution would both happen on the platform Instagram, itself. Photo and video, obviously referring to the images we capture from our devices. And finally, the network refers to the internet and social media itself, and how our content is is circulated through it and between one-another. For example, “The Visual Methodologies programme… straightforwardly entails that… online
images become ‘networked’ when users like, share, comment or tag them, and
also when platforms and engines format, filter, feed and recommend them to
others. Images may also be networked across platforms through their circulation,
when the same image is fed to or otherwise resonating on different platforms and
websites (Niederer, S., 2018, pp. 7)”. After pulling apart, defining and comprehending the courses prompt, we are able to respond to the prompt, find the connections between it and ‘Instagram aesthetics’ and begin to start thinking about this idea of how everything is becoming designed towards meeting this aesthetic through ‘Instagramism’. Before this, however, me must also define ‘Instagram aesthetics’ and ‘Instagramism’. Lev Manovich uses the term ‘Instagramism’ in his text Between the Public and Private in Mobile Communication “as an analogy to modern art movements such as futurism, cubism, surrealism, etc. Like these earlier-isms, Instagramism offers its own vision of the world and its visual language. But unlike Modernist art movements, Instagramism is shaped by hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of authors connected by, and participating in (Manovich, L., 2017 pp. 262)”. Furthermore, Manovich discusses ‘Instagram aesthetics’ within the text, noting that “The words ‘aesthetics’ or ‘aesthetic’ are used prominently by Instagrammers and authors of advice posts and videos. For example, the search on YouTube for ‘Instagram aesthetic feed’ returns 7,200 videos, while the search for the phrase ‘Instagram aesthetics’ on Google returns 144,000 results (both searches performed on November 22, 2016) (Manovich, L., 2017 pp. 262)”. Furthermore, Manovich explains ‘Instagram class’, which he uses to “refer to millions of young people in many countries who use Instagram in systematic ways to create visually sophisticated feeds (Manovich, L., 2017 pp. 262)”, which are usually edited in third-party apps as well as using the basic Instagram app functions (which I personally find to be limited). Considering this, we can conclude that ‘Instagram aesthetics’ refer to the way that things are designed to be visually pleasing and attractive to the Instagram user, and that what is considered to be visually pleasing is decided by the Instagram user.

After making my findings, understanding the question that is proposed to me, and the past few weeks of authoring, publishing, distributing and reflecting of my own Instagram content – I came to the conclusion that ‘Instagramism’ and ‘Instagram aesthetics’ are created by the Instagrammers themselves through making use of the affordances and constraints that Instagram has to offer. This changed how I chose to respond to our courses prompt, as this meant to me that if ‘Instagramism’ is generated through affordances and constraints, it also meant that ‘Instagramism’ has a direct impact on how the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos are authored, published and distributed in the network. This ‘aesthetic’ is something that has become so popular, it’s trickling into popular culture and the everyday – with Instagrams impact becoming “material, with devices, spaces, cultural institutions and homes all being re-designed and reimagined for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience (Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, pp. 150)”.

So with that being said, How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network? Well it’s clear that if we are authoring, publishing and distributing on the Instagram platform, then obviously what the platform affords is going to dictate what we are able to achieve through it. But with the rise of ‘Instagramism’ and ‘Instagram aesthetics’ pushing into every aspect of our everyday life and design, as I discovered through my blogposts and Instagram posts (inspired by the quote “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable (Norman, D., 2013.).”) changes again, not only the way we make use of Instagram’s affordances, but how we choose to author, publish and distribute our photo and video content all together to meet this aesthetic.

CITATIONS

• Leaver, T., Highfield, T., & Abidin, C., 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.
• Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, New York.
• Manovich, L., 2016. Instagram and contemporary image. Manovich. net, New York.
• Niederer, S 2018, Networked images: visual methodologies for the digital age. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam.
• Manovich, L., 2017. Between the Public and Private in Mobile Communication.
• Norman, D., 2013. The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition. Basic books.

“Instagram has become synonymous with visual design and visual experiences. Instagram’s impact has become material, with devices, spaces, cultural institutions and homes all being re-designed and reimagined for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience.” – PP. 150, Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

As mentioned in previous video post from this week, this week’s reading had me inspired. It had me wondering how many times we use the term ‘aesthetic’ to refer to things that are pleasing to the eye? And how it’s become so important within our society, that everything MUST be aesthetically pleasing to look at – including ourselves. I realised that Instagram’s impact IS material, and IS riddling popular culture fast. Everything is being re-designed for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience. So I set out this week to add a constraint and find material designs that have both ‘Instagram aesthetic’ and qualities of either a good or bad design that relates to our brief “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” from Donald Norman’s 1988 work, The Design of Everyday Things.

For this weeks photo, I decided to do another set of images – keeping in line with previous posts to keep the same ‘aesthetic’ going on, on my profile. The subject is the Melba/Mullum Mullum Eastlink Tunnel, that I drove through on my way to and back from viewing the puppy I will be adopting, that I mentioned in the previous post. I chose to take these images because it connects with our brief in the way that it’s a beautiful piece of design/architecture, and because it connects with above quote from Leaver, about things being re-designed for the Instagram aesthetic.

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Because I was in a moving car, I chose to take the photo on the camera app on my iPhone 8Plus. This was because it was the fastest option for me to pull up, as it’s a swipe-up feature on the lock screen of the phone. Because of this, I was able to zoom in, careful to use the square setting to match the ‘Instagram aesthetic’, while still capturing a rather clear image. I then moved to Instagram to edit, keeping to the constraints on my other posts, and making use of no filters, and only adjusting the brightness, sharpness and exposure levels.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I then published the photo to instagram, ensuring to use the GeoTag ‘Melba/Mullum Mullum Eastlink Tunnel’, not only so viewers are able to find the piece of architecture, but to also assist in the distribution process. I posted it with the caption:

Finally leaving the house as the #covid19 restrictions in Victoria are lifted. Everything feels so much more scenic now. So much more beautiful. The outside world – ah!
Good pieces of design are often multifaceted. The architecture of the Eastlink Tunnel is stunning and the electronic signs not only remind us of the speed limit, but give us safety reminders and occasionally flicked to signs that urged people with symptoms of the virus to go get tested. Crazy.

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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

I then posted the link to the post on my personal twitter account, to assist with the distribution of the content:

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

I then distributed the photo set on both Instagram and Twitter, which allows the content to be distributed and viewed by users that it may not necessarily have without sharing it to Twitter. Not only this, but I continued with my use of Hashtags and GeoTag’s to ensure my content is being collated with other content on the platform and viewed by other users on Instagram.

CITATIONS

• Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

“Instagram has become synonymous with visual design and visual experiences. Instagram’s impact has become material, with devices, spaces, cultural institutions and homes all being re-designed and reimagined for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience.” – PP. 150, Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

This week’s reading had me inspired. How many times do we use the term ‘aesthetic’ to refer to things that are pleasing to the eye? It’s become so important within our society, that everything MUST be aesthetically pleasing to look at – including ourselves. I realised that Instagram’s impact IS material, and IS riddling popular culture fast. Everything is being re-designed for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience. So I set out this week to add a constraint and find material designs that have both ‘Instagram aesthetic’ and qualities of either a good or bad design that relates to our brief “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” from Donald Norman’s 1988 work, The Design of Everyday Things.

This weeks video subject is a puppy toy that I bought from Kmart, for the puppy I’m adopting this week! I think this is a brilliant design, personally, offering the newborn dog both a plush toy for cuddling and a tennis ball for teething. A multifaceted design. What’s particularly interesting here, is that it relates to the above quote from Leaver, in the way that this is a clear example of how everything is being designed for that ‘Instagram aesthetic’ – with avocados being an extremely popular and repetitive image to be seen on Instagram and throughout popular culture on other items.

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

For this video, I filmed straight to the Instagram app on my iPhone 8Plus, which features a double camera on the back. It was a fast and quick film, so I didn’t bother filming on the iPhone’s camera app – which has far more features than the Instagram app, that offers limited ability to edit the videos, compared to photos.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I published it to Instagram with the caption:

I’m getting a puppy! We welcome the new member of our family to our home with some rather clever designed dog toys. Would you take a look at this design?! Incredible! See what I mean about good design being multifaceted? A plush toy AND a tennis ball. This is the future. Thanks Kmart.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

This was to connect the content with this idea raised in class of using the platform as a way of connecting with people by showing the everyday – especially with the accessibility that smartphones have. The caption also connects with the brief, in the way it shows and explains (what I would consider) a good design, and also works in with the above quote from Leaver, about things being re-designed for ‘Instagram aesthetic’. I also made use of the GeoTag ‘Kmart Australia’, so viewers are able to know where the item came from.

I then shared the link to my personal twitter account:

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE VIDEO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

After distributing the video on Instagram itself, I then shared the link to the post on my personal Twitter account (@JessCZR). This was so the content could be distributed to as many people as possible, with the video gaining viewers that it might not have had before it was shared to the platform. The use of the GeoTag ‘Kmart Australia’ will also assist in the distribution of the video, as it will work to collate my content with other content on the platform that has used the same GeoTag. The same thing happening with my Hashtags in use, #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988.

CITATIONS

• Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

For this weeks video I decided to post a video of my niece attempting to use my dad’s walking stick. Mostly because I thought it was funny, but the caption is true… Walking sticks really are a great piece of design if it’s meant for you.

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Because of the way Instagram video’s are authored, in the way that you are able to start/pause/stop recording and add pieces together this was easy to capture. I saw the opportunity in my niece using the walking stick, and used my iPhone 8Plus to take the video on the Instagram app, starting and pausing the recording until I found the perfect moment. Once I had, I moved to the editing section where I trimmed the beginning and end of the video down, so it was just the video of her falling with the stick.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Once I had finished trimming the video, I posted it to my Instagram account with the caption Walking sticks are a great design… if it’s built for you…
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

This was to keep in theme with the Donald Norman quote, that I have posted on the end of each of my captions, keeping the use of the Hashtags going to ensure that the distribution process goes well. I didn’t use a GeoTag this week, simply for privacy reasons, and that the video was taken in my own home.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE VIDEO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

Once it was posted, the Hashtags I used in the caption (#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988) collate together with other images and video content related to these tags – distributing my content globally, as my account is on public. Although there was no GeoTag, this didn’t affect the amount of followers coming through, as the Hashtags still ensured that the post was seen by other users on the platform.

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

Camera phones capture the everyday – they are highly portable, accessible and immediate and this is reflected in the approach toward authoring content and how these affordances affect the way they are used to record photos (32) e.g. “Snapshot aesthetics” (39) – Manovich, L. 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image. University of San Diego, USA. (pp. 24-113, Parts 1-3, pages. Chose a part that interests you. ‘Part 1: Casual Photos’,‘Part Professional and Designed Photos’ and ‘Part 3: Instagramism.’)

For this weeks photo, I decided to post a set of three images, as one whole post. I wasn’t originally going to do this, but after taking these images, I felt they told a story put together. The story being that things can be a good design, before they become obsolete or need re-designing, connecting to our quote in focus from Donald Norman; “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” Camera phones do capture the everyday, without their portability and accessibility I wouldn’t have been able to author these photos, that capture the heart of the city (something we all see) – under construction.

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Because of the constraints I had, being that I was in a moving car, I chose to use the camera app, on my iPhone 8Plus, before posting the set to Instagram. I was careful to use the square option, however, keeping in mind these were to be posted to Instagram and needed to fit their grid look on the platform. This was because (as previously mentioned) they were taken in a moving car, and it was an opportunistic moment. This is interesting when we look at Manovich’s quote from above, about camera phones capturing the everyday, due to their portability. After taking the images, I then moved to the Instagram platform to edit, publish and distribute. I’m not a huge fan of the limited filters that Instagram offer, so I try my best to achieve the best quality photo I can while taking it, in terms of composition, colour and light. Because of this, I try to keep constraints and limit myself to using only touch-up tools that alter the exposure, saturation, brightness and sharpness. This calls for a better look overall, when looking at my Instagram profile at a whole, as all the images will appear aesthetically similar. So for this set of images, I only brought up the brightness (ever so slightly), sharpened the image, and moved the exposure of the images up a little bit, so the shadows of the inside of the car were less visible.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Once I was happy with the images, and the set as a whole, I posted it with the caption Sometimes things can be designed good, or well. Sometimes things become obsolete. Sometimes things are still useful but need redesigning.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988.

This was to help convey the story I was feeling from these images, as well as keeping to the theme of my overall feed, which is based on good and bad design and the quote in focus from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things (1988). Using the quote from the text, and the Hashtags, will assist in the distribution of my content and Instagram profile on the platform. Not only this, but I used the GeoTag Docklands, Victoria to also assist in the distribution process.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

I made use of the GeoTags and Hashtags, as previously mentioned in the publishing process, to distribute my content to the broader Instagram community. The GeoTag and Hashtags are used to collate images together that use the same tags, meaning my post will appear when users search the GeoTag Docklands, Victoria or the Hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988.

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I chose the steam machine in my house as a subject for my video, as it was clean day in the house and took the opportunity to film a piece of well designed cleaning equipment.

Although I hated using the platform as a means to create video, I did author it directly within the Instagram app, on my iPhone 8Plus. About the only feature I enjoyed was the fact that you can pause and restart the filming process – but this was definitely useless considering it was too hard to trip sections out if you ruined one, and found myself deleting the whole video multiple times and reshooting. I was determined to stay on track with using the platform (This is interesting when we look to the focus of our quote, as I didn’t find the poor design within the subject of my film, but instead it revealed the poor design of Instagram). I then added the filter Valencia, and sharpened the film. While I’m not a huge fan of the filter, and prefer to try to capture beautiful light and colour when taking the image – it was a video of a dirty toilet, and I wished to disguise that part of it slightly, so the focus of the video doesn’t shift to the state of the toilet, rather than the subject of the video, which is the steamer.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE VIDEO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I published the video directly to my Instagram account, after editing it, adding the description “Good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible. Everyday items are so often invisible – but are well built and are simply something we cannot live without.
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“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988″.

I decided to use a caption that was related to the image itself, while also referencing the quote in focus and Donald Norman, and his text, itself. This was so I could assist in the distribution of my image, making use of GeoTags and Hashtags within the caption in relation to both the image and the quote in focus.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE VIDEO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

Once the video was published to my Instagram account, which is public and allows the entire world to view it, with the use of the GeoTag The Clean House and the hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings, it compiles my video with all other images and videos on the platform with the same GeoTags and Hashtags. This means its globally distributed on the SNS and allows my video to have better chances of being seen worldwide. To my surprise, I gained followers straight after the post, meaning that this is an effective means of distributing your content and gaining followers, globally, on the platform.

@NETWORKEDJESSIE

“Daydreaming of being apart of the world, taking note of the good design in the home until…
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 “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I chose this LEGO helicopter that my brother built as the subject of my image, because it was the first obvious thing I could find in my home of ‘Good Design’, in relation to our quote in focus – “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” A quote from Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things (1988).

I chose to take the image in front of a large window in my lounge room, as it was some of the best lighting I could find in my house. Because of this, I had the plane placed on my hand, which I tried my best to cut out of the image when taking the photo – This, explaining the reason behind the odd composition.

For this photo, I authored it directly in the Instagram app, on my iPhone 8Plus. The device features two back cameras, which was what I used to take the photograph, using the touch screen feature to control the exposure. After the shot was taken, I moved on to the editing section of the app, and brought the exposure all the way up to wash out any colour from behind the plane, to a very pale blue and to add a final touch – I brought the sharpness up all the way, and faded the image slightly, to attempt to give it a somewhat grainy look.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I published it after authoring it straight from the app, with the caption “Daydreaming of being apart of the world, taking note of the good design in the home until…

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. “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988″

While I added my own caption in relation to the image, I chose to obviously point out the quote that we are focusing on, enabling me to use hashtags in relation to Donald Norman, his book and the quote to help with distribution of the image. Although Norman states that good design can be a lot harder to notice than poor design, this LEGO plane is an obviously good design.

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

Once the image was posted to my Instagram page, I made use of GeoTags and Hashtags, which are used to collate a feed of images and videos together that are all related to one another. This way, because my profile is on public for the entire world to see, if they search the GeoTag Somewhere Else But Here they will find my image among others. This would work the same way if they searched the hashtags #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings, my image will come up with any images or videos with those tags – making my work open to the entire world through the public Instagram platform.

Jessie Caesar – S3787379

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services

BLOG REFLECTIONS

Week 5 – Analogue Photography (Practice Analysis)
Week 6 – Analogue Video (Practice Analysis)
Week 7 – Networked Photography (Practice Analysis)
Week 8 – Networked Video (Practice Analysis)

REVIEW

This review responds directly to the following prompt: How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

Titled: How has the the shift from ‘Analogue Media’ to ‘Networked Media’ had a direct impact on the authoring, publishing and distribution of media within the network? (Word Count: 1,183)

The term ‘Authoring’ refers to how a media practitioner produces their work. For example, if we were talking about how a photo on a 35mm camera is authored, we would be discussing the procedure of taking a 35mm photo – i.e., loading the 35mm with film, developing the image. The term ‘Publishing’ refers to where the media practitioner publishes or showcases their work. In the case of our previous example; a 35mm film photo might be ‘published’ to the family photo album. The term ‘Distributing’ refers to where and how the media practitioner distributes or shares their work to, or with. Say the image was taken by a professional Photographer, who has the intention to showcase their world worldwide, they may ‘distribute’ their work in various art galleries around the world.

“In analogue photography a picture was formed through transcription, in principle tracing or witnessing actual people, places and circumstances (pp.25-26, Wells, 2015)”. In ‘Analogue Photography’ a roll of film is placed in the camera, and the photographer had to direct and take the image exactly as they wanted it, with the people they wished to shoot, there. The photographic film is made up of layers of light-sensitive silver halide emulsion coated on a flexible base, and when the film is exposed to light in a camera, it creates a latent image, to then be developed. This didn’t mean that they weren’t able to select, crop and retouch, they were just rather tedious procedures to perform prior to digital capabilities, as they were processed and printed chemically. The film images were known as negatives, and the process of development involved where the image was first, chosen through a magnifying glass, ensuring dust is kept off the negative as it is placed within the enlarger; exposed onto photographic paper, which was then put through trays of developer, stop bath and fixer, before the negative image was printed, before being hung up to dry with pegs.

“Digital photography operates through a conversion whereby physical properties are symbolised through numerical coding (pp.25-26, Wells, 2015)”. Digital photography was the emergence of instant photography cameras (polaroid cameras) that lead to DSLR/SLR cameras, and many more digital cameras alike – eliminating film photography and chemically processed and printed images from the mainstream media practice. After some years of technological advancement within the digital world, “we have witnessed a number of convergences…between the camera, the internet and personal mobile media, notably the mobile telephone’ (pp. 13, Lister in Wells, 2015)”. This convergence between photography and digital technologies contributed to a mass change in the way that images are authored, published and distributed. This mass change referring to the emergence of the internet, SNSs and the ‘Network’. The affordances of these SNS platforms then contributed to another huge change within the way we author, publish and distribute, with the internet and the personal mobile becoming a camera, that continually develops, the ‘users’ are now able to author rather profound photographs, publish and distribute them to their Social Networking Sites (SNSs). “Camera phones represent something new in the history of photography, because they are capable not only of recording and displaying images but also instantly sharing them, via the Internet or messaging services. A photograph no longer moves in fixed and linear fashion from a capture device (camera) to a processor (darkroom or chemist) to a viewing context (family album) (pp. 245, Palmer, D. 2014)”. Therefore, ‘Networked Photography’ refers to this authoring, publishing and distributing of photographs on said SNSs within the ‘Network’.

‘Analogue Video’ began with the use of Reel-to-Reel film taping, where they used magnetic tape/film, which was then threaded through the reel-to-reel camera and onto an empty reel to be used to record. This kind of filming technique developed into newer technologies such as the cassette tapes and the VCR system, which allowed analogue film-makers to publish and distribute these films in a whole new means. Prior to these newer technologies, they were only able to send the one and only copy of the film reel around the world to view. They were now able to duplicate these films, to then distribute them to be screened and viewed, worldwide – changing the way that film-makers author, publish and distribute video content. “Analogue recording is a linear process involving the creation of variations in a recording medium that correspond to variations in the signal being captured… Analogue devices, such as VCRs, tape and record players, read analogue media by physically scanning these variations (NSW State Archives, 2020)”. These signals that were being captured in ‘Analogue Video’ were what the famous White and RGB (Red, Green, Blue) cables (or Composite Video Cables) were in the back of an Analogue TV were for. These picked up the audio and video signals that were captured within the recording of ‘Analogue Video’. While the introduction of ‘Analogue Video’ was a game changer for media practitioners worldwide – the way they author, publish and distribute video was about to develop and change again with the introduction of digital video, thus the ‘Networked Video’.

‘Networked Video’ is authored with digital devices, that use the digital binary code system, and can be read by computers and mobiles as well as TV/Cinema screens. It’s now the standard video method we use, that is non-linear – meaning we are able to edit and play-back at any point, as many times as we like, without damaging the quality of the film; Unlike ‘Analogue Film’, which degrades after use, destroying the quality of the film each time we play it back. “Digital devices such as CD recorders and camcorders convert the signal and turn it into digital information – a sequence of numbers – sampling at set intervals.(NSW State Archives, 2020)”. The higher this sampling rate is, the higher the quality of the video. When we look at defining the term ‘networked video’, we must look at the terms ‘network’ and ‘video’ separately, first. The term ‘Network’ refers to the internet, and the Social Networking Sites (SNSs) that users engage with to ‘Network’ with one-another. The ‘Video’, is considered an electronic medium, meaning that it’s authored/produced on digital cameras and are dependent on the the electronic transfer of signals – signals that are generated within a camera, that are constantly moving, and have the ability to circulate between recording and reproduction equipment. Video “makes use of one track for image and one for sound… The simultaneity of recording and reproduction differentiates video from the photo-chemical recording media, photography, and film (pp. 1, Spielman, Y., 2007)”. If we then look at these terms together, ‘Networked Video’ refers to video content that is published on the World Wide Web and are distributed throughout the ‘Network’.

Once we have considered all of this, it is clear to see how the shift from ‘Analogue Media’ to ‘Networked Media’ had a direct impact on the way media practitioners author, publish and distribute media. This is important to note, when moving towards unpacking the courses prompt of ‘How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

CITATIONS

• Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, New York. (Section: 1.2.1 Digital pp. 16-21)
• Wells L 2015 Photography: A Critical Introduction. 5th ed., Routledge, New York. (pp. 9-27 Thinking about photography: debates, historically and now.
• Palmer, D., 2014 ‘Mobile Media Photography’, in The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, (eds) Goggin G., Hjorth L., Routledge, New York pp. 245.
• Digitisation of analogue audio and video | NSW State Archives, 2020, Digitisation of analogue audio and video | NSW State Archives, <https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/advice/digitisation-of-analogue-audio-and-video> [Accessed 29 April 2020].
• Spielmann, Y., 2007. Video: The Reflexive Medium. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Section: Introduction: The Audiovisual Medium pp. 1-6)

TASTY (BUZZFEED) – @buzzfeedtasty

“Instagram is more than one thing: it is an app; it is a series of programs and algorithms; it is a gigantic database of images, videos, captions, comments, geolocative tags, location tags, likes, emoji and more and more items over time; it is a collection of personal data (connected with similar sets of personal data after the purchase by Facebook); it is an application program interface (API) which enacts rules to allow different apps, platforms and partners to access, add or remove data from the Instagram database; it is a series of decisions and developments over time that create different versions of each of these things; and it also encapsulates various popular understandings of what Instagram ‘is’ to the more than a billion people who use it. In short, describing Instagram as a platform offers a continual reminder that Instagram is many different things, some at the same time, and some that have quite radically changed over time (Leaver, Tama, et al. 2020).” One of the most important features, the video, is used in many different ways within the network. “Online video has been transformed from an expensive to distribute mediaform to one which can be networked, shared, downloaded and re-used with ease. Digital videos, a kind of ‘vernacular avant-garde’, can now be found in a variety of short-form genres, from family videos to haul videos (documenting things people have bought) to unboxing videos (people opening the wrapper from their new purchases) and from a new type of YouTube celebrity to amusing ‘meme’ videos (Berry, T. B 2018).” This has changed the way photo and video practitioners share their work, opening a new way of monetising online, through clicks and views – with Instagram becoming one of the most popular avenues to do so.

When we look for an example of the online video being used this way on Instagram, we look to Buzzfeed Tasty, an Instagram account that is attached and apart of the original Buzzfeed blog-site; which has a main focus on short online video based content used to teach people ‘easy’ and ‘quick’ recipes, as well as promoting longer video content of theirs that can be found on IGTV or other SNS platforms such as YouTube.

An example of their work is this one-minute tutorial video on what they call “Hash-brown Waffles”, posted to their Instagram on 26th April, 2020. Buzzfeed work to strict time limits, with all of their tutorials hitting a rough one-minute mark. What’s interesting about Buzzfeed Tasty, is that they have a team of content creators that contribute to their page (which you can see in the referenced image above, just below their description box), as opposed to one person running the account alone.

This means that we can presume that the “Hash-brown Waffle” video, was authored by multiple content creators – the food created by one person, shot by another person, edited by someone else, and so on, so forth.

Published to the World Wide Web, on the SNS Instagram to be specific, well as being distributed on their other Tasty accounts on their original Buzzfeed blog-site and other SNS accounts such as Facebook and YouTube – With the intention to make money through clicks/views, and distribute their content as far around the world as they can, on as many platforms as they can, across the World Wide Web to do so.

CITATIONS

• The Writing Center, ‘Literature (Fiction)’, viewed 10 July 2018. <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-fiction/ (Links to an external site.)>
• The Writing Center, ‘Film Analysis’, viewed 10 July 2018. <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/film-analysis/ (Links to an external site.)>
• Berry, T. B 2018, ‘Situating Videoblogging’, Institute of Network Cultures, viewed 14 March 2018, pp. 9–22, http://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Videoblogging-Before-YouTube-web.pdf
• Leaver, T., Highfield, T., Abidin, C., 2020. Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Digital Media and Society, United Kingdom. p. 1-38 (RMIT Library e-book
  – https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1d27kpc/RMIT_ALMA51238311040001341

BRAD ELTERMAN (Born: 19 September 1956)

“Camera phones represent something new in the history of photography, because they are capable not only of recording and displaying images but also instantly sharing them, via the Internet or messaging services. A photograph no longer moves in fixed and linear fashion from a capture device (camera) to a processor (darkroom or chemist) to a viewing context (family album) – camera has itself become a viewing device and a mass communication platform. As a result, images are in constant circulation, endlessly multiplying (Palmer, D. 2014)”. This paved the way for many online platforms to showcase images, making it a simple as a few taps away for media practitioners to share their work with the including; including the SNS Instagram.

An example of a photography/media practitioner, who has make the switch from Analogue Photography to Networked Photography across his career, we look to Photographer Brad Elterman. “Originally from the San Fernando Valley, Elterman rose to acclaim early, managing to save enough from the proceeds of his photo sales to German and Japanese magazines Music Life, Rock Show and Freizeit to land his own West Hollywood apartment while still in his teens. Ingratiating himself as the go-to biographer of the Sunset ‘in’ crowd, the young photographer soon gained access to the kind of Hollywood inner-sanctums unthinkable now in an era where even the youngest stars’ careers are micro-managed by publicists, managers and social media gurus (Elterman, B. 2020)”. “In a time when most photographers decided to portray these artists performing on stage under the glitz and spectacle of the limelight, Elterman decided to point his camera in the opposite direction…He portrayed these idols in their downtime, presenting them as normal people that watched TV, ate fries and played soccer. Curiously, while he renders these superstars as vulnerable human beings, he does it with such taste and respect, it actually exalts them… His work has been published almost everywhere, from NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone, and the National Enquirer, to now extinct magazines like Popcorn in Germany, Pop Foto in Amsterdam, and Rock Show in Tokyo (Feature Shoot, 2020)”. Elterman, making his career in the 70’s, physically went through the shift from Analogue Media to Networked Media himself – now taking to Instagram to showcase both his analogue works from the past, as well as images taken from his phone and shared to the platform as it happens; Making use of the platforms algorithm in two ways, promotionally (in the way he promotes his own image and showcases his work) and in the way that he uses its ability to instantaneously connect with the world.

We can look to two examples of this when we take a deeper observation of his profile. The first image we look at is a photograph from the Analogue Photography era, reposted and repurposed on his Instagram page. Here we see one of the many images of Joan Jett that Elterman took in the 1970’s. Elterman has posted it to his Instagram with the intention to promote his self-image through highlighting and   showcasing his prior works. Then when   we look to the second image (posted   April 9, 2020) from his Instagram profile,   we see that he has posted a photograph,   clearly taken from his mobile phone (we   can presume, for this examination, he   owns an iPhone – one of the most   popular mobile/camera phones on the   market), and posted to his Instagram   profile with the intention to use its platform to connect with the world in real time.

The first image of Joan Jett was taken in the 70’s, meaning that it was created using Analogue Photographic methods. Due to the fact that he was a young teen when beginning his photography journey, and the fact that the image was authored in the 70’s, we can presume Elterman used a 35mm Point-and-shoot camera – camera’s, that were popular at the time. We then can assume he then would have had chosen his negatives through a magnifying glass, ensuring he kept dust off the negative as he placed it in the enlarger; exposed onto photographic paper; the photographic paper was then put through trays of developer, stop bath and fixer and the printed photo was hung up to dry with pegs.

While the second image was published directly to Instagram, and distributed no further, some people may repurpose this in posting the image to their own SNS profiles (i.e. Fan profiles). However, the first image of Joan Jett was taken as one of many images that Elterman took of Jett during their private time spent together over the 70’s, and Jett being one of pop musics biggest icons – the images were (and still continue to be) published and distributed in magazines, and now online on websites all over the world wide web. An example of this is, is presented in an article published by Vice Magazine, where the author discusses the exact photos of Joan Jett with Elterman, and what exactly happened to the negatives in terms of publishing and distributing, stating “Back in the 70s, when I was super prolific with my camera, I would mail my color slides and black-and-white prints to magazines all over the world—I did keep and file my black-and-white negatives. A few years ago, I was in Tokyo and went back to Shinko Music, which published the glossy Music Life and Rock Show magazines. They published everything I sent them, and I became their Los Angeles correspondent. When I got there, everyone was gone except for an elderly security guard who told me that everyone left years ago and that he had no idea what happened to their archives. This wasn’t an isolated phenomenon. Every single one of the publications I had sent to in the 70s folded, and their archives vanished. Thousands of analog photos were tossed and left for dumpster divers.”

CITATIONS

• The Writing Center, ‘Literature (Fiction)’, viewed 10 July 2018. <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/literature-fiction/ (Links to an external site.)>
• The Writing Center, ‘Film Analysis’, viewed 10 July 2018. <https://writingcenter.unc.edu/film-analysis/ (Links to an external site.)>
• Palmer, D 2014 ‘Mobile Media Photography’, in The Routledge Companion to Mobile Media, (eds) Goggin G., Hjorth L., Routledge, New York pp. 245.
• Brad Elterman, 2020, Brad Elterman, <http://www.bradelterman.com/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
• Feature Shoot, 2020, Born to be bad: Brad Elterman, one of music’s most influential rock ‘n’ roll photographers – Feature Shoot <https://www.featureshoot.com/2019/06/born-to-be-bad-brad-elterman-one-of-musics-most-influential-rock-n-roll-photographers/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
• ShootTokyo, 2020, A conversation with 70s Iconic Photographer: Brad Elterman — ShootTokyo, <https://shoottokyo.com/blog/conversation-70s-iconic-photographer-brad-elterman> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
• Brad Elterman (@bradelterman) profile on Instagram • 3,448 posts, 2020, Brad Elterman (@bradelterman) profile on Instagram • 3,448 posts <https://www.instagram.com/bradelterman/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
• Vice, 2020, This Teen Took Candid Photos of the 70s’ Biggest Rock Stars – VICE. <https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/zmepp8/this-teen-took-candid-photos-of-the-70s-biggest-rock-stars> [Accessed 18 April 2020].