The Narrative of Pinterest

The Narrative of Pinterest

By Tayla Dale

As the age of technology continues and enhances in the all aspects, the culture that surround must evolve along with it. “Transformations in technology cause transformations in culture” (Kuttainen, 2017). Every user is open to the possibilities of creating a new space, a place that is at the hand of the virtual world. A world that incorporates the uses of sensory features to create. Pinterest incorporates images, symbols, and sounds as a means of interaction. The interaction, as time continues creates a narrative of the inventor.

Unknown (http://thinklink.in/internet/)

There is a sense of space created, a new age technological way of speaking that deciphers the users from the non-users. The anyone on the outside of the Pinterest walls the term ‘pin’ wouldn’t mean anything, it would be the interpretation of the physical pin. Yet for a user it is a means of sharing, it has a defining concept, a definition that follows the word. Create a narrative in the way that we speak, with the uses of internet jargon recognised by forums. It creates a group of hierarchy, as those on the outside get lost in translation. “It is fair to say, how-ever, the literature on power, under the influence of thinkers such as Foucault, deals more with techniques of control, social hierarchy and inequality, domination and its contestation, than with the creative acts of making and building…” (Tuan, p.685).

Pinterest, is a highly visual forum. It projects the uses the arts within every aspect; design, photography, illustration etc. These images are a different reality to each individual, and image can accentuate a space for one character, while is has no effect to another. Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to stand and I will move the world” (McCluhan, p.15). This has become the ages ‘place to stand’. Individuals may concur that we are simple processed into a place that has been created for us, but there is only the opportunity to create space that has been provided. The user is the creator of their own virtual place to stand. The users are the input of the forums content, they are running a forum that has been provided to them. Giving emphasis to likes and dislikes of the visuals behind the network. There is such thing as updates, not only because of new technology, but for the demands of the users.

Based on the study conducted at Colorado State University by Jennifer Cross, the investment within internet forum comes at the state of Commodified Relationship (p.7). A relationship that is based on choice and desirability. There is the infinite recognition that one will interact with Pinterest as a choice, because it is a pleasant interaction for them. There is no sense of uniformity as it is your own narrative, the space is confined to your specific preferences. A forum that learns and updates with the consideration of you and your likes. “Ideas of the world are all filtered by language” (lecture). The language within Pinterest is spoken using images and investment of interpretation with the following of different minds.

Cross, E. J. (2001) What is Sense of Place?. Department of Sociology Colorado State University. [Hyperlink]. Retrieved from http://western.edu/sites/default/files/documents/cross_headwatersXII.pdf

Kuttainen, V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, lecture 2: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

McCluhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Chapter 1: The Medium is the Message. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf

Tuan, Y-F. (1991). Language and the making of place. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, p. 684-696. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Artist unknown. [Image]. Retrieved from http://thinklink.in/internet/