(Miller, 2015)
Vine and Paradigm
Vine has millions of users all over the world, yet only some people and places get recognized due to a more English-orientated audience. However, the users of this site still have not aimed to rectify this happening. The whole site seems to be a Paradigm that has yet to shift.
It seems to be, that people seem to discourage change, however small, or however exposing it could be, even for the better. Ontology, as described by Kuttainen (2015), is a 'sense of the way things are'. The community of Vine seem to have created this space to be an unchanging way of escaping the real world. That is, the users have decided that the best way to maintain social structure of the site, is to ensure it becomes as English-orientated as possible, as to ensure a place that they feel comfortable and 'at home'.
Tuan (1991, p.686) argues that "insiders see 'homeplace' - an environment that is familiar to them". This quote of which I can apply to the users of Vine as they surf their way through a familiar and unchanging environment. Tuan (1991, p. 688) also later argues that during the settlement of Australia, there was a sort of promoting "a sense of regional identity and of place". This can also be similarly identical to the users of Vine, As they promote only certain videos in order to maintain the underlying social structure of the social media website.
Kuttainen (2015) argues later on that "Folk culture is being erased by urbanization". Which I believe to be true in a sense that while some videos are being overlooked due to the social structure of Vine, while videos depicting English-orientated activities and/or people are being promoted 24/7.
References:
Kuttainen, V. (2015). Stories and Places. Lecture, James Cook University.
Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach.
Annals Of The Association Of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1991.tb01715.x
Picture References:
Miller, G. (2015). History of Online Social Networking. LoveToKnow. Retrieved 28 August 2015, from http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/History_of_Online_Social_Networking
Link References:
https://vine.co/channels/comedy
Being an enjoyer of Vine videos myself, it's interesting to read your insights; I do believe us english speakers take the English-oriented videos for granted. Following on from your point about settlers in Australia promoting a sense of identity and place, I think likewise this could be similar to the Songlines of Indigenous Australians. Songlines were exclusive to particular tribes, and were "both map and direction-finder. Providing you knew the song, you could always find your way across country" (Chatwin, 1987, pp.13); Vine is the English-oriented Songline through the virtual world, which only us English speakers can follow. Perhaps like the Indigenous Australians, Vine is an ontology for English speakers, after all we do create a narrative of our Western culture (as well as sometimes take the mickey out of it). Also, with reference to the lecture, I would also like to argue that in our pro-English-ness, we are "orientalising" those who do not speak English (Kuttainen, 2015).
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Chatwin, B. (1987). The Songlines. In Australian Aborigines - Social Life and Customs. pp. 11-15. Jonathan Cape Ltd.: London
Kuttainen, V. (2015). Stories and Places [Lecture Slides]. James Cook University: Townsville