Whether we know it or not, we are constantly making lists online. Lists of our thoughts, our favorite songs, and pictures of our favorite moments all help to create our digital presence. These lists can be considered a sort of digital archive. Personally, some of my favorite archives come from my social media.
Instagram and Twitter have played a big role in developing my online presence. My Instagram spells out some of my favorite memories ever since I was 14 years old. I love pictures and having a place to compile all of my favorite memories and share those memories with other people makes me feel so much more connected not only to my own history but also to the history of others. My twitter, on the other hand, is a constant stream of my own inner musings. It is filled with thoughts that have come to me, funny things that I have heard other people say, and even some media that I find amusing or intriguing. On Twitter, I can find news, pop culture concepts, and even some novel ideas. Twitter is an interesting platform because people are generally allowed to say whatever they want which can be dangerous. In a strange way, Twitter is a small book of my life. My twitter followers have read about awkward interactions that I have endured, the time that my parents decided to renovate a house by themselves, and have seen an abundance of pictures of my dog and other peoples dogs. One aspect of Twitter that is particularly interesting is when users may agree with each other on certain thoughts. When this occurs, users are able to retweet the original tweet and post it onto their own timeline of tweets. So not only can a persons twitter showcase their own original thoughts, they can also have traces of other peoples influences in their lives. Another type of digital archive that I somewhat unconsciously create is my music playlists. I prefer Apple Music over Spotify but that is just a personal preference. My playlists are something that I can spend anywhere from five minutes to five years creating. I am constantly adding songs to old playlists, making new playlists, and even downloading playlists that others have created. Music is such a large part of my life and it has the ability to speak to me at any moment of my life. I have playlists for when I am happy and when I am not so happy. I make playlists for studying, parties, workouts, and even for road trips. I have attached an image of a playlist I made at the beginning of this summer of songs that I felt fit the mood of this summer. Prior to this project, I didn’t really feel as though my playlists counted as a kind of “digital archive” but thinking about it now, my taste in music is something that shapes my presence online especially with the social aspect that was brought about due to streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify. While being able to have a presence online through my social media and streaming platforms is exciting and interesting, it can also be slightly nerve-racking. To know that anyone could come about and see my Instagram posts and know where I go to school and where I grew up puts me at ease. I do have the ability to go through and see who is following me and I am able to block specific people if I do not know them but it is very easy for people to see my information because it is online in an easily accessible medium. Our digital curations are what define us and make up a majority of our online presence. Whether we like it or not, our digital footprint is constantly growing with every tweet, post, and song added to our playlists.
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AuthorI am a Freshman Multimedia Production major. ArchivesCategories |