Pinning thy Place

Little Girl Holding a Bouquet of Balloons. (Magier, N.D.)

Words hold a power that people are often unaware of, it is a power that is hidden in plain sight. As normal as describing an experience may seem in everyday life we are creating spaces in which we are guiding others to think a certain way about a certain thing. Now, Pinterest is an online platform with little words, as images are its main form content, but this does not mean that words are completely absent. Captions for the images that are being posted create their own meaning on the image being shown.  Imagine this, an image, a little girl, big grin on her face, holding a red balloon behind her back, captioned ‘enjoying the fair; she loves her red balloon’ is what you imagined an innocent little girl? How about if the same image was captioned ‘Enjoying the fair; she stole a baby’s red balloon,’ what do you imagine now? The creation of attention catching captions could be described as a language that the users of Pinterest have utilised in order to create their influence over the space that they have inhabited.

It is stated by Tuan (1991) the construction and maintenance of place is something in which language is a component. This is through the ability of giving the focal object/place a meaning that is not only understood but clarified by those who gave it that meaning (Tuan, 1977). An example of place that is created within the Pinterest community is the user’s pin boards. Each individual board following a specific genre, captioned with specific terms and phrases that will draw others who are interested in the subject onto their page. These terms they use and/or names they give creating meaning for the place that is their pin board. Not only the individual but the public boards displaying all things that are relevant and interesting to you, the user, creates a sense of comfort and belonging in the online world of Pinterest.

Let’s look back to the image I proposed earlier; by changing the caption this allowed for two different views to emerge around the same image. This ability to use the words of a caption to change someone’s view of an image can be the same for changing someone’s view on an online Platform such as Pinterest as well. As Kuttainen (2017) explains, “fictional stories can reflect ways the author sees, visualizes, and experiences the real world.” Now, although Pinterest is not a fictional story, the user’s boards are just as much a reflection of the ways in which they perceive their world, using images and captions to send their individual views into the virtual space. Space in which meaning is created and a sense of place in formed and the community can come together to continue to preserve that place via the language that they share.

Word Count: 470

References

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place Week 5 Stories and Places. [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Magier, I. (N.D). [Image]. Little Girl Holding a Bouquet of Balloons. Retrieved from https://fr.123rf.com/photo_34992956_mignon-petite-fille-tenant-un-bouquet-de-ballons-en-forme-de-coeur-rouge.html?fromid=R00wSzFrOGoydVMwcUVnLzNWYlJqQT09

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 18(4), 684-696. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/stable/pdf/2563430.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A80e7c1e87eb2c56496e86a3b280395f2

Tuan, Y. (1977). Space and place. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.