Module 6: The Order of Things

Lambert and Frisch draw our attention to the fact that there are increasingly better and more cost-efficient – if not free – digital tools available for content mapping purposes, such as creating indexes for documentary collections and that some are for recreational purposes, while others are intended for experts.(1) When a platform like Pinterest is used recreationally to catalogue product purchases, inspirational images and recipes, be not mistaken, sales professionals pay close attention.(2) Marketers(3) and media publishers (4) utilize Pinterest to hyperlink product images or links to articles (5) while it provides meta data to corporations that are constantly accessing and leveraging information about prospective clients.

Being personally involved in the contemporary arts, I have had interactions with professional curators on a regular basis over the years. I therefore completely sympathize with Peter Morin’s position on the outright misuse and oversimplication of the terms “curator”, “curated by” and “curating” in online literature. He objects to the reductionist use of the term to casually describe the act of online scrapbooking, an embodiment of commodity fetishism that benefits no one but the retailers (6). I have a similar quarrel with the hijacking of the term “artisan” by the fast/processed food industries (7).

At times I feel a certain “uneasiness,” which turns into laughter, when I inadvertently come across some Pinterest boards of friends or former colleagues, and a certain pleasure when I create my own classification systems. I borrow the term “uneasiness” from Michel Foucault’s seminal preface to The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, because it points to the physiological/emotional reaction that one may have when coming across or creating taxonomies.(8) As a long-term collector of many different types of objects, I have organized a number of my collections in a fairly compulsive manner (books, postcards, etc.) and attest that there is something of that kind of reaction that effectively takes place. Taxonomies trigger a physical response, and Foucault’s preface reminded me that they have an effect on the reader. The analysis of Foucault’s text by Michael Duszat of Humboldt University of Berlin also makes important observations to this effect, in particular with respect to heterogeneous enumerations:

“One of the powerful effects that heterogeneous enumeration can have: it provokes substantial self-reflection, which, in an almost educational sense, can produce a disturbing but also immensely rewarding reading experience.” (Duszat, 2012, p. 203) (9)

“Heterogeneous enumeration becomes visible as a powerful literary device that can be employed to raise critical questions about many of our present concerns about the production and representation of knowledge and meaning, questions about rationality, order, and the power of writing.” (Duszat, 2012, p. 214) (10)

There is also something ultimately existential about list-making, as Georges Perec splendidly noted in Thoughts of Sorts.(11) Perhaps the appeal and popularity of Pinterest can be explained in part by the type of aesthetic gratification it brings its users (content creators) and readers, voluntary or accidental. The question however remains how many of its users will take advantage of this experience to engage in independent and reflective thinking about their own list-making practice and whom it truly benefits?

References

(1) Lambert, D. &  Frisch, M. (2013). “Digital Curation through Information Cartography: A Commentary on Oral History in the Digital Age from a Content Management Point of View,” Oral History Review, (1), 135.

(2) Constine, J. (Feb. 2016). Image Recognition Invades Shopping As Curalate Raises $27.5M”, Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/02/profiting-from-pretty-pictures/

(3) Hurley Hall, S. (Oct. 2014). How Successful Marketers Use Pinterest to Drive Conversations (And How You can Too), Retrieved from: http://unbounce.com/social-media/how-successful-marketers-use-pinterest-to-drive-conversions/

(4) Perez, S. (Sept. 2013). “Pinterest Appeals To Publishers With New Article Pins, Pushes To Become A Bookmarking & “Read It Later” Service, Tech Crunch, Retrieved from: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/24/pinterest-ariticle-pins/ 

(5) Ibid.

(6) Morin, P. (Oct. 2011). An Open Letter to Everyone Using the Word ‘Curate’ Incorrectly on the Internet. Retrieved from http://aboriginalcuratorinresidence.blogspot.ca/2012/05/httphermitagemuseumwordpresscom20111004.html

(7) Polis. C. (Oct. 2011). When 'Artisan' Means 'Industrial': How One Word's Definition Has Been Overused And Abused, Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/when-artisan-means-industrial_n_1031004.html

(8) Foucault, M. (2005) The Order of Things [1966], Preface, p. xx, Retrieved from: http://beautifuldata.metalab.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Foucault_The-Order-of-Things.pdf

(9) Duszat, M. (2012), Foucault’s Laughter: Enumeration, Rewriting, and the Construction of the Essayist in Borges’s ‘‘The analytical language of John Wilkins’’, Orbis Litterarum 67:3 193–218

(10) Ibid.

(11) Perec, G. (2009). “Thoughts of Sorts”, translated by David Bellos.

A Pound of Curation

“[B]andaging a wound doesn’t make you a doctor. Snapping non-digital photos of empty train tracks doesn’t make you a photographer. So, guess what? Assembling a group of tangentially related things and publishing them online does not make you a curator. So what does it make you? A blogger? A list-maker? An arbiter of taste? Sure, I’ll take any one of those. Just stop calling yourself a curator.” (2011, Hermitage Museum) 

Dear anonymous curator. Take a deep breath. Your job is safe. Have confidence. You’ll be ok.

Trying to understand the appeal of Pinterest

Out of almost every module so far I have seen change.  Change is scary.  Change brings differences that many people do not like, understand, or even want to understand.  Did a person who typed on a typewriter have the right to call themselves a writer, over those who used more traditional methods?  Are ebooks replacing books?  Are you really an author if you can just self-publish whatever you want, or put a unique spin on publishing through social media? 

When reading “An Open Letter to Everyone Using the Word ‘Curate’ Incorrectly on the Internet” I could see where they were coming from.  The author had a point.  Just because Pinterest allows you do collect information online that’s relevant to a specific subject, doesn’t mean a person is a curator.  Especially when those people who are curators by profession have worked so hard.  After spending years in school, and even more time gaining job experience do become a curator, does someone who jumps on the online curating train have the right to that title as well?  But what are they then?  A social media curator?  Are people holding on to titles and names in a changing world?  People who dedicate time and effort to their Pinterest account definitely do not do the same things as a Curator at a museum, but do changes in technology then require people to loosen the reigns on definitions of words?  Navigating the internet isn’t easy, after all.  With the amount of information in the world expanding as rapidly as it does, someone has to organize it, even if someone can do it sitting at home in front of their computer during their spare time.

I don’t know the answer.  If someone enjoys taking pictures, and they have a high quality camera, I’d probably call them a photographer, even if it’s not their profession or if they haven’t trained for it.  If someone writers stories and puts them online for anyone to read, I’d still call them a writer and an author.  I wouldn’t put them on the same level as people who are published and paid for their work, but I wouldn’t cut them off either.  So while I would not call someone who ‘curates’ online content a professional curator, maybe this is just one more word that needs to expand its definition, understanding that there are different ‘levels’ or ‘classifications.’

“I am all for changes in the English language as long as they are for the positive. What I am not in favor of is the hijacking of words to make something sound more important that it actually is.” (Morin, 2012)

What do we do, then?  Create a new word?  Create sub-definitions?  In the end is the type of work each person does, the amount of time, education, and importance behind the work more important than the label used to define it?  When I look up online content curation, I see a focus on marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Mullan, 2011).   When I think of curation for museums or gallery’s, appealing to the masses is part of it, but so is the preservation of history and the sharing of culture.

This entire assignment is content curation, gathering content that is already out there.  But none of it is original content.  Right Mix Marketing suggests that content curation should be used along with original content to better promote your collection and increase search optimization (Treanor, 2011).

In my view, it all comes back to change, and how fast change comes when we may not be ready or willing to accept it.  The internet has created a whole other aspect of life that people have never had to really consider before.  It some ways it’s nice to know that humans are still needed to help the internet improve.  Our ability to organize and sort is still needed along with advancements and technology (Rosenbaum, 2012).

I’ve never really become interested in Pinterest.  I’ve tried, I’ve had an account for years.  I’ve taken multiple cracks at it, but it is not for me.  If I want to find recipes to try, I google it.  If I want DIY projects, I google it.  But the only reason that works is because of content curators.  So special thank you to the people out there who actually have taken an interest in platforms like Pinterest. 

I focused my board on one of my favorite debates, books vs. ebooks, and if one is better than the other, or if one is making the other irrelevant.  I don't think either side will ever render the other obsolete, but I still enjoy the debates around the issue. 

Follow Cara's board New Media Narratives on Pinterest.

References

1.    Hermitage Museum, (May 2012). “An Open Letter to Everyone Using the Word ‘Curate’ Incorrectly on the Internet,” Aboriginal Curator in Residence,http://aboriginalcuratorinresidence.blogspot.ca/2012/05/httphermitagemuseumwordpresscom20111004.html

2.       Mullan, E. (2011) What is content Curation?. Available at: http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Resources/Defining-EContent/What-is-Content-Curation-79167.htm 

3.       Rosenbaum, S. (April 2012). “Content Curators are the New Superheros of the Web, “ Fast Company,http://www.fastcompany.com/1834177/contentcurators-are-new-superheros-web

4.    Treanor, T. (2011) Content Curation: Definition and 6 tool options. Available at: http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/right-mix-blog/definition-and-tools/