Jurgenson – The Social Photo
Jurgenson analyzes the aesthetic of the vintage, and why it comes about, via looking at it through the lens of authenticity. The idea is that humans value authenticity above all else, and as such photographs played a role in having tangible proof that you could hold in your hands, that signaled that you without a doubt have seen something. In the early days of Instagram, vintage filters became exceedingly popular, as they invoked these old photos, asserting a “realness” about the picture. This all sort of comes into play when examining our social consciousness in the social media age.
Ben – What Do Metrics Want? How Quantification Prescribes Social Interaction on Facebook
The article discusses further this idea of social interaction, and ties our self-worth through a frankly arbitrary set of values that we seek because of capitalism. Personally, I vibed with the anti-capitalist moods here, but I always vibe with anti-capitalist moods. Ben’s Facebook demetricator sort of reveals all the anxieties surrounding increasing your social numbers as a mode of increasing your own personal value. Instead of simply showing your worth through owning goods or just having a good life, you do so by curating the vision of a good life and reaping the rewards of likes and clicks.
Jill Walker Rettberg
This one sort of builds on the previous two readings – we live in an age of Dataism, quantifying ourselves to even the most inane details, all in pursuit of what’s functionally clout. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but in my opinion it’s a little crazy that when you explain data tracking and social media the way Rettburg does, it really does sound like we’re living in a rejected Black Mirror script.