Welcome to week 7!
This week I’m applying the thematic context of Raessens analytical framework of techniques of participation, and types of participation to analyse aesthetics, futhermore my Digital Artefact within it.
Multimediality is a combination of stationary and moving images. This blog post represents multimediality, as it shows text, pictures and audio such as an embedded podcast. The way I present my DA, through videos, also relates to this.
My Digital Artefact mostly represents pictures. The aesthetics shown on my pin-board can be modified, copied and distributed without the loss of quality. Although I am sharing these photos, Pinterest allows me to attach the original credit to it.
Virtuality is an event or entity that is real in effect but not in fact. I present my Digital Artefact on Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more (Meng, 2019). It allows a wider audience to view my work and is easily accessible.
Interactivity is “the ability to intervene in a meaningful way within the representation itself, not to read it differently,” (Raessens, 2005). The main interactivity my audience has is being able to like, follow and share my pinned photos on my Pinterest board. They are also allowed to comment but due to ethical reasons I will not be showing this.
Connectivity means audiences can exchange ideas and knowledge amongst each other on the internet. Pinterest allows connectivity as people all over the world can re-pin, like, comment and share my content I am reposting, creating a cycle. I will also be able to view my audience insights on the app.
Types of participation:
Interpretation refers to how the audience views your content. The persona my aesthetic portrays includes feeling glamorous, boujee, trendy and expensive. I want my audience to be able to interpret this theme as I have focused on a black and white theme involving celebrities and expensive brands. My 2nd pin-board highlights game aesthetics which will make my audience feel nostalgic, by focusing on including old games from childhood. I believe my audience likes my diva aesthetic as I have 7 pins!
Reconfiguration can be seen in the way we change a text to create something new. In the simplest form, I am taking photos that have some elements in common and grouping them together, reconfiguring them into an aesthetic, for my Digital Artefact. These elements includes colors, texts, objects and people. Users can repin my photos shared to their own boards and can add their own touch such as a different filter or some text.
Construction can be understood as the addition and creation of new elements. I am utilising many articles and sources within my research. I have reconstructed my project over these past couple weeks by changing platforms from Instagram to Pinterest and adding two aesthetics, one which is my own take on the glamaesthetic, called the divaesthetic. I have also added another aesthetic which will be able to relate more to game media.
References
Meng, A 2019, What is Pinterest, and How Does it Work?, Infront Webworks, accessed 7th September 2021, <https://www.infront.com/blog/what-is-pinterest-and-how-does-it-work/>.
Raessens, J. (2005). Computer games as participatory media culture. In J. Raessens & J. Goldstein (Eds.), Handbook of computer game studies (pp. 373-388). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, accessed 8th September 2021
Samantha's Show 