Power to Transform
By Sylvie Wharton
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I have stated
previously Instagram is essentially an online diary, another way of looking at
it would be as a narrative, created and shared by the individual through the
uploading of pictures to document our lives.
Much in the way that
stories surrounding the concept of boosting tourism in the Pacific in the 1920s
and 30s Kuttainen (203, pp. 51-56) have become an indication of an increase in
interest in the Pacific as a travel destination post world war one, I believe
so to will our narratives created through social media become simply an
indication of the digital era we currently live in. This is only my prediction however, what I
cannot predict but what will ultimately determine whether our narratives
through social media will hold importance is who will be holding the power in
the future.
All systematic modes
of interpretation (stories, art, or science) MIGHT be equally valid, but they
are rarely perceived as such V Kuttainen.
Essentially what gives a story or in this case a narrative its validity
is whether the dominant culture viewing it perceives it to be important or
valid or neither. Given this equation of
perception of power equalling validity I believe it would be hard for us to
predict what will be regarded important or not in the future. I could say now my opinion is that given the
sheer volume of users creating narratives online that each individual narrative
will not hold much importance but the Instagram application itself be seen as
an important reflection of values our society currently holds (narcissism,
exhibitionism, materialism etc.).
Ultimately how our
social media narratives will be perceived will depend on the perceptions of the
future dominant society, their emphasis on virtual reality, whether there will
be any distinction between the two and what weight they will have. No definite statement can be made merely
assumptions.
References
Kuttainen, Victoria. (2015). BA1002: Our Space:
Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture 5: Stories and
Places. [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Kuttainen, V.
(2013). Style, modernity and popular magazines: Writing Pacific travel. In T.
Dalziell & P. Genoni (Eds.), Telling Stories: Australian Life and
Literature (pp. 51-56). Victoria, Australia: Monash University Publishing.
Your blog entry got me questioning the future power group and how historians will see us and I came across this article http://bigthink.com/floating-university/how-will-future-historians-see-us. It too pondered our future power structures however it found resolve in our connections to ideas rather than authority. I believe that a large portion of social media tells a detailed narrative of our ideas and inquiries. I think it could be that the shifted power constructs will react strongly to our candidly open approach to ontology. Whether that reaction is positive or negative, I guess is for us to decide and change our internet habits based upon that decision. Our narrative may start off seemingly negative- superficial and narrcissistic- however devlop into a positive image- one that exposes our interest in the world and universe around us and the micro particles within ourselves. I think there is definitely hope for our future historians to regard our era as one of intellectual discovery and connection.
ReplyDeleteErikson, M. (2012). How Will Future Historians View Us? Retrieved from http://bigthink.com/floating-university/how-will-future-historians-see-us