When I think of Space and Place and how one can become the
other, no example strikes me as much as Tumblr.
Tumblr, the the untrained eye, is a complete mess. People’s
use for this blog based website vary from fan blogs about their favourite star
to a forum where they can hope to achieve renown (or power) by uploading their
own original works. Indeed, while vast, Tumblr used to be a rather exclusive
site.
David Karp, Inventor of Tumblr, intended the site to be a
place where the masses could create a hort form blog, accessible by anyone. For
the most part this is what it was used for, with visitors creating profiles,
dedicated to their own lives at first (with some branching out into fan blogs
and research blogs). It opened people up to the concept of finding likeminded
people to share and connect with. By so many people adapting to Tumblr, and
making their own blog within the site, it became a perfect example of the
creation of place within this virtual space.
Tuan summed this phenomena up in his writings, by saying “The
meaning of space often merges with that of place… What begins as
undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it
with value.”
An example of someone’s “Place” – Welcome To Wonderland
However Tumblr, whilst becoming a place for some, can also
be seen as exclusive in some ways. To gage how successful a Tumblr blog is, one
must only look at the followers. Many see this as a competition and get
disheartened if their blog is unpopular. This can be explained by Bordieu’s theory of
capital. There are three type of Symbolic Capital, in which we can measure the
success or power of a person. There are Economic, Cultural and Social Capital.
Tumblr users deal primarily in the two latter forms: Cultural and Social. On
tumblr your prominence is measured by followers. these followers are drawn to
blogs which are interesting or informative (cultural capital), or which talk
about common interests (social). In example, on my personal dashboard I follow
over 200 blogs about K-pop because I have the same interest in the
subject.
The inner workings of Tumblr are still, for the most part, a
mystery. Blogs come and go and evolve with the author. But one thing is
certain, Tumblr has certainly enables the creation of many Places within the
ever expanding space.
1: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ysabellatrix/followers
Welcome to Wonderland, (2012)
2: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-history-of-tumblr-2013-5?r=US&IR=T
Edwards. J, May 27 2013, Business
Insider Australia
3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87BPL62wyyU
Bordieu- Simple Explanation, Cheryl Reynolds, April 26 (2013)
4: Tuan. Y, (1977), Space and Place: The Perspective of
Experience, London, University of Minnesota Press
No comments:
Post a Comment