Blog 3 - Horse'n around - Stories

'Those that have the capacity to name and tell stories about place hold power'(Van Luyn, 2013).

Place and narrative in the Pharlap world are commonly expressed in photos such as the one depicted above. Such photos are shared freely between the members of the group, and even while the group is private, people are often linked into conversations and added to the group when current members feel as if they have an interesting story to tell, or feel as if they could bring valuable knowledge and contributions to the group discussions. 

The members of the group who can share 

these kind of images, their life stories and experiences while expressing themselves articulately hold the most power. Other group members do and will in fact look to them for guidence and encouragement when faced with the prospect of rescue and general care.

'In modern literate societies, the written text has largely supplanted storytelling. The written text, which is both more private and more public than the spoken word, has its own unique powers of transforming reality'(Tuan,1994).

The language used within this group could be somewhat hard for someone who was not familiar with horse anatomy, veterinary procedures and any other aspect of horse care including medications and old wives tales. However, this in itself brings the members together and evokes a sense of community and enables us to express our stories in such a way we feel empowered by our knowledge and our capability of sharing our experiences.

References

Tuan, (n.d) In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 31, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi-Fu_Tuan

Tuan, Y.-F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative - Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol 81, No. 4, 690.

Van Luyn, A. (2013, August 26). BA 1002 Week 5: Spaces and Places. Townsville, Queensland, Australia. 

Image Reference 

Image 1: Marte (2013). Retrieved from:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php

fbid=10151464209953864&set=o.458404900883326&type=3&theater

      

The lingo of Twitter

Twitter is not as formal as Facebook in ways of creating an online identity, users are not required to display as much personal information as they are on Facebook. This can allow users to be whoever they wish and not necessarily 'real', I do believe however, that most people on Twitter are their real selves. As a user I don't feel pressured to play pretend and feel free to express my opinion. This may be due to the fact that people are not able to reply directly to a post and users are able to say whatever you want without fear or judgement from the online community.

According to Tuan (1991) 'words alone, used in an appropriate situation, can have the power to render objects, formerly invisible because unattended, visible, and im-part them to them a certain character'. The social network of Twitter seems to have its own language with a list of words that are used specifically in anything Twitter related such as the word  tweet (broadcasting a message), attwicted (addicted to Twitter) and bird of mouth (using Twitter to circulate news). The use of these words that are used specifically related to Twitter creates a feeling of connectedness within the network. The special language for Twitter uses words closely related to the original word Twitter and when members use these cute wordplay's they gain a feeling of closeness with each other, which again stresses that this is a site which could almost be classified as a group of friends. Van Luyn (2013) believes that 'Space becomes place through humans imposing meaning on it'. Twitter is essentially a space where people can congregate to share information and news but through the use of a language that is specific to the site and by using a unique system of sharing information by hash tags and creating a close-nit network of friends Twitter becomes a place where people feel free to be who they are.

References

Tuan, Y.F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative - Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers,Vol 81,no.4,692.

Van Luyn, A. (2013, August 26). BA 1002 Week 5: Spaces and Places. Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Image Reference

A Basic Twitter Dictionary (2013) Retrieved from: http://addtwitter-followers.com/a-basic-twitter-dictionary-the-meaning-of-some-of-the-twitters-most-popular-words/

Facebook - the home of Yarn Corner

 

The day we installed these, the town was bought together to discuss rainbow wooly tree covers!

"Place is important (as humans impose specific meaning on them) and until that time; places are devoid of meaning." (Van Luyn, 2013)

The virtual world of Yarn Corner: picture links to crochet patterns, knitting books and several photo albums of yarn covering the mundane in bursts of wooly colour. The Yarn corner group is private, but with over 500 people posting; it's similar to a real life craft library. Tagging frenzies occur often to link two women together from other sides of the world who share an interest in ripple blankets (amongst other wooly goodness).

"Yarn jokes" and ecards designed by members create a sense of relation between all members. Even if you are not known by your real name; we don't mind; people are still tagged like "Pebble" was your real name. Women are happy in this virtual group, they can show off projects and smile because someone, no matter how far away they are; like knitting or crochet like they do! I use my real name and socialize with many different people, both in person and online as Yarn Corner has real world meets. I am no-one but my true self in both spaces.

What is true of a picture of a place is also true of a real place. (Tuan, 1991) The above photo is a real installation by yarn corner; allow yourself to picture this in a facebook group. Our cover photo includes these trees; our website; several photos of granny squares covering long trees and poles; Everything you see here is what you seen in the virtual world. There are no boundaries.



 Bibliography 

Tuan, Y.-F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative - Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol 81, No. 4, 692.


Van Luyn, A. (2013, August 26). BA 1002 Week 5: Spaces and Places. Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
Yarn Corner Yarn Bomb [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://john-ocal.com/tag/yarn-bomb/

THE POWER OF WORDS (Blog3)

http://top-10-list.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/first-printing-press.

 

Over the course of history the methods of telling mass narratives has changed dramatically from the first printing press in 1450, to the 21st century of the digital world. One thing that time hasn't changed is the way individuals use the power of language and words to express narratives of space and place.

Being an observer on the social network site Experience Project, I cannot help but notice individuals articulate language they use to describe a place they love. The vivid memories and connections they feel towards a place (Luyn, 2013). With thousands of experiences and stories, the writers connect and communicate with readers through the power of words that enables you to visualise the experience, feel emotion, the reality and the aliveness of the place or experience(Tuan, 1991)."Words enhance the picture" (Tuan, 1991), provide a mental image of an experience which creates a power of relationship between the writer and reader.

Above is an example how over the course of history it's just not technology that has changed our ways of narrating  stories, but a change in the individuals telling the story. From the professional, intellectual and powerful individuals, to ordinary people having power and ability to narrate and publish their experiences or memories (Luyn, 2013) within the digital setting. Narrating within the digital setting is a great way as a means of constructing a place.  Dr Luyn (2013) listed a great website, Story Corps that users oral language for people to listen and experience  different narratives of everyday, ordinary people (Luyn, 2013). These digital advances are revolutionising ways of storytelling of a place and empowering those who choose to embrace. In due time maybe history will remember this as an evolution of narrating, just like the printing press.

References

 

 

First printing press [Image]. Retrieved from: http://top-10-list.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/first-

       printing-press.

 

Luyn, A. V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place,   

       Lecture 5 narratives and place. Retrieved from:    

        https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset

 

Tuan, Y. F. (1991). Language and the making of Place: A narrative-descriptive approach. 

 

          Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. Retrieved from:

 

          http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563430 .



Modern Day Songlines

 

 Image 1: Arschgeweih.

Reddit is predominantly an English speaking website; this could be however because my settings state that I am an English speaking person therefore I only receiving English written articles. That is not to say that non-English data is not available to me, on numerous occasions I have come across videos, articles and images that a certainly from non-English speaking places within the world. A great example was an article from Wikipedia that was written in German about 'tramp stamps' better known as 'lower-back tattoos'. 

Within Reddit the content is what I would call ‘real’; protest videos from Egypt show real people in conflict. A man, who posted a picture of his shaved chest hair in the shape of a bikini, was real. Many other available articles represent real places, people and stories; narratives I found to be both amusing and disgusting were found  in the article ‘What’s the worst thing a house guest has done in your home?’ This for me, clearly showed the idea that the virtual network is 'new ways of thinking and creating selves and stories' (McNeill, 2012, p.115). I have changed my perspective on multiple things due to what I have been confronted with within my virtual network. 

Songline's too have changed within my own mind; ‘each totemic ancestor, while travelling through the country, was thought to have scattered a trail of words and musical notes along the line of his footprints, and how these Dreaming-tracks lay over the land as ‘ways’ of communication between the most far-flung tribes’(Chatwin, 1987, p.13). With this description the virtual network became a songline for me. The best example to represent this is Ozell Williams YouTube video clip; as he flips down the street I notice that his songline has brought together numerous people from a variety of places around the world. As I post this clip, I am merging his songline with my own - my university network. This modern day songline is not sacred as the ones still used by Indigenous Australians, but it is a form of connection and communication that links me to someone else on the other side of the planet. As Dr Van Luyn said, ‘you are not the only one constructing your identity in the virtual network’ (Van Luyn, 2013); Ozell Williams clearly shows how others are changing how he is perceived and how popular he becomes. 

 

Image 2: Lower-back tattoo

References:

Arschgeweih. (2013). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 20, 2013 from http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arschgeweih 

Chatwin, B. (1987). Chapter 3, in Songlines (pp. 11-15). London, England: Jonathon Cape.

Lower-back tattoo. (2013). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 20, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_back_tattoo

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no “I” in network: Social networking sites and posthuman auto-biography. In Biography, 35(1), 101-118. 

Ozell Williams. (2013). In YouTube. Retrieved August 20, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFU_4dVMvO4

the_Hallelucinator. (2013). What's the worst thing a house guest has done in your home? In Reddit. Retrieved August 20, 2013 from http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1kock8/whats_the_worst_thing_a_house_guest_has_done_in/

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Week 4, Part 3: Networked Narratives. [Podcast]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Image 1: Marcela. (2006). Arschgeweih. Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jaegermeister-59.jpg

Image 2: Marcela. (2006). Lower-back tattoo. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jaegermeister-57.jpg

 

Blog 2 - Horse'n around

Pharlap, the groups namesake 

I have found that while the Facebook group Pharlap embraces new members and encourages equality and diversity between the groups participants, I have noticed that in fact if a person expresses an opinion that slightly differs from the norm or may make people feel uncomfortable, they will either quickly find themselves being bullied to change their mind, blocked from certain conversations, or simply deleted from the group. Its seems that one type/attitude of beliefs holds the power within this group, and if you don't conform you will find yourself deleted, which when compared to Stanner's White man got no Dreaming draws a considerable contrast. 'One of the most striking things is that there are no great conflicts over power, no great contests for place and office. This single fact explains much else, because it rules out so much that would be destructive of stability' (Stanner, 1979).

The distribution of this group seems to be mainly focused in the areas of country VIC and NSW, while there are a few members from QLD and SA. As I mentioned in my first blog, admin created a map locating all members whereabouts, however this was not freely shared within the group, and I have had to pay attention to post to work out peoples locations. From my observations, I have noted the power and vital communication is in no doubt controlled by those members who are from the southern states (close to admin locations).

Narrative plays a huge part in this group. People are always sharing their stories and personal experiences with the groups members. Photos are a common occurrence, especially those depicting progress stories. As was mentioned in this weeks lecture by Dr Ariella Van Luyn 'We are drawing on particular events that happen to us, and we're not looking at them objectively, rather we're telling our stories in a way that is causal and a way that is situational' (Van Luyn, 2013).   

References 

Narrative (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 23,2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrative

Stanner, W. (1979). White Man Got No Dreaming. London: United Kingdon, Europe, Middle East and Africa: Eurospan Ltd.

Van Luyn, A. (2013, August 20). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place: Networked Narratives. Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Image reference

Image 1: Pharlap (n.d). Retrieved from: http://www.racehorsetalk.com.au/racing-talk/bart-cummings-to-be-patron-of-phar-lap/

Im

Blog 1 - Mums the Word

At some point during motherhood, mums will require some advice, information, a shoulder to cry on or someone to share their child's achievements with. Unfortunately some mothers do not have this support, and if they do it may not be in the capacity they would like, or delivered in a way that does not pass judgement.
Cafemom really is the virtual coffee shop for mothers. As soon as you enter the site, a welcoming mood is set and it is easy to imagine a friendly chatter between mums, accompanied by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

Cafemom is a place of sharing and caring. A place where mothers young and old, single and partnered, of all backgrounds can come together to discuss all issues related to being a mum. The good, the bad and the ugly. It provides refuge and safety from judgement. It allows mothers to express themselves, and find solace in knowing that they are not the first mother to have ever dealt with a screaming 2-yr-old in a shopping centre, or a straying teen. It is because of the sensitivity of some of these issues and my own discomforts with being judged and identified, that I chose to remain somewhat anonymous. However, in order to feel a sense of belonging, of community, I chose to include my son and my title as a mother in my username.

All the topics on Cafemom are clearly mapped out and accessible to anyone willing to explore them. According to Wood, (2009), 'different maps are like telling a story but from a different point of view'. The mapping of Cafemom tells stories to the world through the eyes of mothers. Similarly, as "historical and present maps give prominence to important landmarks" as stated by Dr Theresa Petray in her week 3  lecture (2013), Cafemom gives prominence to topics considered important by mothers everywhere.

Becoming a member of Cafemom was empowering. I am now part of a community of strong women and mothers. I have somewhere I can go to ask questions, voice frustrations, view opinions and be inspired.


Reference List

Cafemom (2006) Retrieved 16th August, 2013
https://www.facebook.com/CafeMom

Petray, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 3 Maps: Seeing and shaping the world. Retrieved from: https://learnjcu.edu.au

Prouty, R. (2009). A turtle on a leash.
Retrieved from http://onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html 

Wood, D, Ward L Kaiser& Abramms, B. (2006) Seeing Through Maps: Many ways to see the world


Images

Retrieved from
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorMm0KTNKt_iiZf9fk_6D6ZqHkv0VnNgmzcb3E20QhNZs3hdoPTQkdtmIOGXiepBYhPJnCgMatltrDLDaNxh-H7VRjRlaaCdPaUQ8ajgqxRWbPYlleHp8W0bSJnqdzBMwbDwmBa7Xklk/s400/mothers-and-kids-drinking-coffee-300x200.jpg

Yarn Corner - embracing diversity throughout the Global knitting, crochet and looming community

  Public transport users embracing Yarn Bombing

(Yarn Bombing, 2011)

 Out of all the social networks I have taken part in over the years, Yarn Corner is the most warm and welcoming. They embrace equality and diversity and do not engage in discrimination. All language groups have power. We are always trying to spread joy with yarn bombing; quite like the Song lines which were thought to have scattered a trail of words musical lines along the trail of the footprints. (Chatwin, 1987). We of course use the virtual and real words to spread our message.

Mapping the users of this network is straightforward as the administrators have already created a list of where we are all located. It is not evenly spread over the world, with most of the users being based in Melbourne. Due to the targeted interface of Facebook, users from all over the place can find us when trying to virtually embrace common interests. The auto / biographical act of creating a profile...establishes community norms for participation. (McNeill, 2012) The identity of this social network is "real" as we all participate under our real names.

Narratives only have a small part in the group as we rarely share personal experience and photos.It is a contrast to the Aboriginal Dreaming described as "a kind of narrative of things that...happened" (Stanner, 1979); however it can also share traits with the dreaming as "a...charter of things that still happen" (Stanner, 1979) when referring to rules and regulations.

Yarn Corner create narratives in different and creative forms. Old - fashioned thinking communities do not thrive well as they believe our activities to be a waste. A traditional assumption is that a narrative is "just something that people read in a book". (Van Luyn, 2013). Yarn Corner is dispelling this every day.

Bibliography

Chatwin, B. (1987). The Songlines. In B. Chatwin, Australian Aborigines - Social Life and Customs (p. 13). London: Johnathan Cape Ltd.

McNeill, L. (2012). There is no "I" in network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Autobiography. Biography 35.1 (Winter 2012), 104.

Stanner, W. (1979). White Man Got No Dreaming. London: United Kingdon, Europe, Middle East and Africa: Eurospan Ltd.

Van Luyn, A. (2013, August 20). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place: Networked Narratives. Townsville, Queensland, Australia.

Yarn Bombing The Blue Line [Image]. (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.curbly.com/users/brittanymauriss/posts/10093-craftivism-yarnbombing-and-other-shenanigans