Assignment 3 – Report
Robin Nguyen s3705374

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services

 

Making Media blog links

Week 9 – Photo
Week 9 – Video
Week 10 – Photo
Week 10 – Video
Week 11 – Photo
Week 11 – Video

This report answer directly to the course prompt:

How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

Assignment 3 – Report
Robin Nguyen s3705374

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration – https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/support-and-facilities/student-support/equitable-learning-services

 

Making Media blog links

Week 9 – Instagram photo
Week 9 – Instagram video
Week 10 – Instagram photo
Week 10 – Instagram video
Week 11 – Instagram photo
Week 11 – Instagram video

This report answer directly to the course prompt:

How do the affordances of Instagram affect the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network?

The study on Affordances has been mentioned and formed up since the second week based on the acknowledgement of psychology and design in The Design Of Everyday Things.

It affects the way photos and videos are authored, published and distributed in the network. First, in the process of authoring, the fact that Instagram only approves the square format provides users a consistent experience. Users can be able to see the full pictures with account’s name, the number of likes, some comments while scrolling new feed, which plays a crucial role in creating the famous Instagram aesthetic culture. Beside that, it gives the photos the look and feel of the old Polaroid and Kodak Instamatic cameras. Yet the constraints developed and became ‘conventions…literally hard wired in camera designs’ (Manovich 2016, p.54). Designed and professional photos, a type “competitive photography”. are blossoming on Instagram (Manovich et. al, 2017), where accounts compete against each other for likes and followers based on their consistent contents. Designed account is the popular type in Instagram where the consistent feed including objects, color, vibe in the photos is the ultimate importance. Manovich argues about the importance of aesthetic and the relation between aesthetic and social status: “Just as it the case with all other cultural domains, the aesthetic preferences and choices made by all Instagram users—“choice” here means what photos a person likes and who she follows on Instagram, and not only what she herself posts—may function to legitimize their social and economic status” (Manovich 2016, p.40). You can notice that immediately when looking at some of the most popular accounts. For example like: Hello Emilie, Daniel Rueda or Miranda Makaroff. Photos uploaded in the designed and professional account mostly produced by professional cameras or iPhone camera and edited by sophisticated editing software. The fact that all of the most popular Instagram accounts are carefully designed, planned and edited is against the original statement of Instagram which aims to capture casual and free moments. However with all the affordances and cultural constrainsts designed by Instagram, I believe that Instagram doesn’t really aim to create a casual and random aesthetic community like they said. In another sense, Instagram was designed to trigger social behaviour. The account feed was designed to create a basic background like a painting canvas with three rows of photos. Users quickly figure the best way of uploading photos to turn their feed into a consistent exhibition and which kind of contents will get the most likes and followers. The likes and followers system and the fact that everyone can take a glimpse at your account to see the your own aesthetic exhibition trigger the competitive nature of people. And Instagram not only  allows users to see other account’s feed but also their list of following, which helps the community connect and establish quickly. Besides that, the publishing and distributing process are extremely easy and almost merge into one like I used to said in the previous post, which removes all the difficult barriers of contributing contents to Instagram. Many users will constantly plan and design their account bio, content, photos, videos to improve their stylization. Instead of just randomly capture and upload a photo to share with friends, the process of authoring, publishing and distributing photos and videos become a meticulous work. Still, users easily get hooked into using Instagram and the networking of Instagram grows unstoppable every seconds with unlimited sources of contents.

Given my doors account, which I made for this class’s assignment, I only aim for the casual vibe. Since the account is about doors, the basic everyday thing in life, I personally think that the casual vibe fits it the best. The overall purpose of casual photos is to visually document and share an experience, a situation, or portray person or group of people.” (Manovich 2016, p.52).

However, in my own daily Instagram account, there are mainly designed photos, although not every pictures are. I didn’t use Instagram that way at the first place. I started using Instagram long time ago but only look at it like a place to reserve photos. I didn’t put anything in bio or edit any photos before uploading. By that time, Instagram is truly about capturing and sharing raw moments. Gradually they introduced the built-in filters range and everything changed. People around me started become more carefully in the way they use Instagram and consider the famous platform like their personal statement. All bio, photo caption, color and object have to deliver the particular style to represent themselves and different photography and videography softwares were used to help users achieve the Instagram aesthetic. I also was influenced by the way my friends used Instagram and became competitive in completing my own digital exhibition. I aim to create the dark, mystical yet simple feed so my bio is short and simple with my name and the country I live in. My feed is filled up with dark, simple photos and sometimes a bright one to balance the overall. My photos are edited with the different warm filters to remains the consistent theme. I rarely use any emoji in the photos/videos caption or comment other than rose, moon, heart and skull. I’m also influenced by the some Instagram influencers like Polly Florence, Accidental Icon, Alyssa Croscarelli and so on. Their accounts can be categorized into designed or professional type. I learnt the way they arrange their photos, the color, the angle, the objects they choose and apply in my own way. Everything is planned carefully to deliver the identity I chose. I am the product of the Instagram culture.

Instagram community is now evolving to become even bigger platform with huge potential. The nice and visually appealing content in Instagram is not just to be nice to look at anymore. Since Instagram is updated with shopping features, it’s transforming into a new kind of aesthetic community. It’s somehow becoming an advertising platform under the cover of the mesmerizing social media channel. The brands exploit Instagram’s affordances to build the whole story or identity, like the way IKEA do, rather than just publish their beautiful products. Selling and building brand identity in Instagram is effective and famous more than ever with all features like linking websites, tag, shopping feature, story and so on. In my personal experience, I can’t tell you how many times I come across something beautiful in Instagram and even get hooked more after checking the brand’s feed with unique aesthetic and value. I ended up order something which is absolutely not my plan at the first place. Looking back at the way Instagram design their affordances, I can’t help but admire the team behinds it. If they give it away all at one time, the users will find it’s too complicated and overwhelming. But start with a simple photography platform and constantly but gradually update new features over time, Instagram keep their users loyal and never get bored of using it while it keep growing to become an undeniable phenomenon and affect million people’s daily habits and lifestyles.

References 

1. Norman, D. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.
2. Manovich, L 2016, Instagram and the Contemporary Image, University of San Diego.