Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye/3112057786
The French use the word, flâneur to describe a certain type of person. The basic meaning of the word is "to stroll" though when describing a person with this word, it refers to "a person who walks the city in order to experience it." or "someone who walks at a leisurely pace, adrift through the city." There are flâneurs everywhere in soceity, in work places, in the streets, and now certainly on the internet as well, as the internet is one of the most used ways of pastime in the twenty first century. Tumblr is no different, giving the ability for users to be able to quickly get to things that want to look at, while letting flâneurs take their time and relax.
The feature of the dashboard, or feed, of Tumblr is a feature where one can scroll through every single post that is reblogged or posted by the blogs of choice that the user had decided to follow, though it can be a broad spectrum of things, the flâneur would appreciate the time and scroll through the dashboard looking at all the different things. Even though the feature of "Tumblr Search" is there which allows the use to type in a certain tag, so it only shows posts that are relevant to that specific tag, so non flâneurs are able to quickly get to where they need, allowing both types of people to co-exist.
During the week's lecture, Kuttainen spoke about how maps are mirrors that reflect the viewpoint of the maker (Kuttainen, 2015), and the reading, "maps are descriptions of the way things are" (Wood, 2001) taking these ideas and applying it to the site Tumblr, it is quite easy to see how true these statements are; with user's personal blogs reflecting their interests and views on certain genres and topics, letting them voice out and express themselves through pictures or words.
Reference List:
Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 4, Maps.
Wood, D. (2001) Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways to see the World. Oxford, UK: New Internationlist Publications Ltd
Surely the type of tags used by the user of Tumbler, would map out the user's identity, in the same way the Flaneur's tastes may lead them to certain areas, subconsciously. Thus maybe the instead of the flaneur being one who would not use this feature, perhaps the flaneur could be one that uses this feature, and looks slowly looks through streams that interest them. The flaneur would certainly not flaneur all the way from his home, but maybe in the arcades, which may be considered more interesting and safer that other areas. This is equally applicable to internet use.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 4, Maps.
Wood, D. Kaiser. W, L. Abramms, B. (2001) Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways to see the World. Oxford, UK: New Internationlist Publications Ltd
I really liked this post! I agree Tumblr has a format that is mint for both flaneur's and other user's alike. I also agree that a user's personal blog is a sort of 'map' of their identity, however, I would say that these 'identity' maps are a good example of only reflecting a "true enough" version of the user, (Wood, 2001). Whilst Tumblr is a diverse platform of self-expression, a single blog tends to run on a singular facet of ones personality, usually the purpose of the blog in the first place. And as we learned in the week's lecture, the map maker's 'purpose' can blindside other factors of the map.
ReplyDeleteRef:
Wood, D. Kaiser. W, L. Abramms, B. (2001) Seeing Through Maps: Many Ways to see the World. Oxford, UK: New Internationlist Publications Ltd