#platform studies

[kkatot]

tumblr

by Katrin Tiidenberg, Natalie Ann Hendry & Crystal Abidin

Katrin Tiidenberg, Natalie Ann Hendry, and Crystal Abidin offer the first systematic guide to tumblr and its crucial role in shaping internet culture. Drawing on a decade of qualitative data, they trace the prominent social media practices of creativity, curation, and community-making, and reveal tumblr’s cultlike appeal and position in the social media ecosystem.

"Sharp, perceptive, and empirically solid, this book is nothing short of a scholarly eulogy to the platform and community that tumblr used to be."Jenny Sundén, Karlstad University

"So much more than just an overview of tumblr, this book is a generous examination of an all too rare form of online sociality – and a platform designed to help it thrive. It is also a sharp reminder that, though platforms can protect their communities, they can just as easily cut them off at the knees." Tarleton Gillespie, Microsoft Research look at the extended table of contents here

UK: September 2021 / US: November 2021 | Paperback 978-1-5095-4109-6 | £15.99 / €19.90 / $22.95

20% discount*: go to politybooks.com and use code POL21 (*promo code is valid until 31/12/2021)

Free exam copies are available to full time professors teaching classes of over 12 students for whom this book may be appropriate as a core text. For more information, get in touch with us [email protected]

[kkatot]

Hi tumblr, meet tumblr

I cannot wait to hold this new baby that Natalie, Crystal and I made from 3 x of a decade of researching, using and loving tumblr. 

We also have lovely, generous, wise back cover blurbs, but the published hasn’t published those yet, so I guess that’ll be another post. 

Preorder here or here.

We talk about why tumblr was / is so special, how it shaped the digital cultures of the 21st century, its transforming place and role within the social media ecosystem, but we also talk about the practices of curation, creativity and community making. Of course, we also talk about fandom tumblr, queer tumblr, NSFW tumblr, mental health tumblr, social justice tumblr;  about reblogs and attention and popularity, about fanmail and notes, and blog themes, about obscure humor and the deep deep well of memes. 

[matnel]

In the course of the 20th century, news media increased their institutional independence in part because of their control over the most important means of mass communication (Thompson, 1995). Today, they have far less control over the distribution of news than they had in the past. They may reach wider audiences than they can through their own websites and apps, but they do it by publishing to platforms defined by coding technologies, business models, and cultural conventions over which they have little influence and are increasingly dependent (Bell, 2014; Bell et al., 2016). They used to control both content and channels. Increasingly, they control only their own content and rely more and more on others’ channels.

Kleis Nielsen, R., & Ganter, S. A. (2018). Dealing with digital intermediaries: A case study of the relations between publishers and platforms.

[irlh-students]

VR: new Medium or new Platform?

When thinking about the potential uses virtual reality (VR) in creative fields, I wonder if VR experiences are constituting a new medium of creation or a new platform (or both)? I want to talk about this specifically in terms of narrative and storytelling.

What I mean by the difference between mediums and platforms is that mediums of narrative are the different forms in which a story can be told such as through acting, song, or literature. This definition is an expansion of the use of medium in the visual arts, in which it is defined as the substance with which a work is created (stone or metal). In the same way, medium here is the tools and materials of creation which an artist might employ to form the narrative. Platforms of narrative are the ways in which that narrative is delivered and thereby experienced by the audience. For example, reading literature on a paper bound novel or an E-reader.

I believe VR can constitute both medium and platform. VR technology can be used to form narrative experiences in ways which were not possible before as a new medium or set of tools available in the creation process. Simultaneously, it is possible to deliver existing narratives through VR as a platform, in ways that increase access or alter the experience of those narratives.

I am interested in other’s thoughts, especially regarding my optimism that VR can constitute a new medium. Are the tools and materials that accompany VR technology so different from those of video games? Are the ideas of play and interaction present in their same forms, or does the inclusion of greater sensory connections mean that creating in VR will be a completely different experience than creating in other mediums of play and interaction? 

Further, is my distinction between medium and platform useful? In many instances the creation of a narrative is restricted by the platform which it is prepared for. Producing a film for a monochrome versus a color screen may influence the creative process just as much as choosing to express the narrative through film as opposed to literature. Does this blur the lines between medium and platform? Do advancements in technology cause that line to blur further or becomes clearer?