Not long after Bachlorette contestant Garret Yrigoyen received Becca Kufrin's first impression rose, an Instagram scandal emerged. Previous Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey tweeted out screenshots of "right-wing" posts that Yrigoyen had liked. Among these included a post with an image of little boys with toy guns above an image of little boys wearing makeup, the former labeled "what boys did in my day" and the latter labeled "what boys are doing today." Another post theorizes that student David Hogg is a crisis actor rather than an actual Floridian high-schooler. Yet another post places side by side images of a blonde, model-esque conservative woman and a plus-sized liberal woman with the caption "Yeah I think we win this one too." Spivey tweets out these posts among others, with the caption "Can we do a better job of social media deep dives on the dudes that try out for #thebachelorette - FYI douchebags we can see your likes."
Yrigoyen did not himself author any of the controversial posts; these were all posts made by popular conservative Instagram accounts known for their unapologetic controversial jokes. Those angered by these posts did not go after the actual author, who remained anonymous under the facade of a generic Instagram account. Yrigoyen provided a face, an identity to criticize, since the real author was unidentifiable. Furthermore, Yrigoyen, by liking these posts, was authoring his own digital archive. It is clear by his statements that he was not aware of the implications of such authorship. Yrigoyen repeatedly stated that he "didn't realize the effect behind a double tap or a 'like' on Instagram" and "didn't mean to offend anybody." In the genre of social media archives, liking a post constitutes an endorsement of an idea, and makes a statement about our ideals. If Yrigoyen did not intend to attach his name to these posts and viewpoints, what was the purpose behind his likes? It seems that he considered himself as the audience to the posts, placing a like without realizing that he himself was sending a message to another audience: Bachelorette fans. The controversy with Yrigoyen is similar but not quite comparable to that of Adria Richards calling out male tech developers for making jokes about "forking dongles" at PyCon. Yrigoyen's choice to participate in reality television put him in the public eye and thus opened him up to public review and criticism. The tech developers, however, were not public figures and did not consent to being photographed. Yrigoyen did not author the posts, they were not of a sexual nature, and was not reading them out in a public, professional setting, but rather on the internet in a context where followers would have to be intentionally searching to find his likes. The tech developer, however, were making their own sexual jokes in a setting where others were trying to mind their own business and engage in professional development. For those reasons, it's hard to say one situation was more worthy of criticism than another. However, in both situations, it is hard to say what the author meant by the statements. Critics of Yrigoyen claim that by liking the post about little boys, Yrigoyen was being transphobic. However, there is no blatant judgement being made by the post. An observation is being made and no opinion is being overtly made. Likewise, critics of the male tech developers claimed their dongle jokes were sexist, but it is unclear whether the attitude behind their jokes was misogynistic or amusement towards the puns themselves. It is wise to acknowledge that anyone can observe our digital footprints and use them to make judgements about our values, even when we think we are not making any clear statement. Whether people deserve to be shamed for endorsing unpopular political opinions is another matter. When an interviewer compared Yrigoyen to Lincoln Adim, another contestant who was convicted of indecent assault and battery, Bachelorette host Chris Harrison commented that Yrigoyen endorsed opinions that many viewers disagreed with, "and that's fine, that is your prerogative, and it might be mine too. That's not against the law. What Lincoln did was against the law. Very different." A fine line exists between wrong and unpopular.
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When first approaching this project, I experimented with some templates from W3 Schools. I found a resume template that might have served useful to me, but wasn't sure what additional pages I could add. Other templates included some interesting elements, but were so complicated that I could not understand which elements were controlled by which parts of the code. I wanted this project to allow me to use code meaningfully and creatively. For this reason, I decided to start almost from scratch, modifying the initial tutorial from our day of in-class practice. The sketch I had made on paper gave me initial direction, although I decided to keep the alignment more simple than I had originally planned given how difficult it is to align elements in code. I spent around an hour of time resizing and centering the three photos on the "Travel" page, using examples from the W3 Schools website as my guide. While the effort was time consuming, it was extremely satisfying to ultimately see my photos aligned neatly on the page. Another strategy I employed was spending around two hours working with my classmate Hallie outside of class. Doing so allowed us to compare ideas and troubleshoot with the creativity of two instead of one. Ideally, I imaged my site to include a menu along the side of the page, small images framing some of the headings, and photos centered on the page in columns like I had observed on photography blogs. I ended up foregoing these ideas as I realized the complexity of achieving these goals that had seemed simple. Instead of using a menu on the side of the page, I placed a menu along the top. This menu was not a simple endeavor, requiring a closer look at how I incorporated each internal link. I took the time to resize photographs logically so they maintained high quality and the pages appeared balanced. So, while my site might not look like a professional photography portfolio, the images are still styled and placed logically. A variety of modes make up my text. The linguistic mode is prominently featured in the headings and paragraphs that accompany my photos. I carefully selected the words that I feel describe my favorite hobbies, keeping the amount of text intentionally brief.
When thoughtfully designed, digital archives rival their tangible counterparts in regards to aesthetics, which, in turn, lead to ease of navigation. I browsed The Cleveland Press Shakespeare Photograph archive, taking note of which design elements were successful and which could use improvement. All in all, the archive was one of the most well-designed of the archives I’ve browsed, many of which scream "The Year 2000 called and it wants its website back!”
This archive's use of color is well-balanced and not overwhelming. There is plenty of white space to allow the eye places to rest on the screen and to give the site a professional appearance, which most websites designed by universities seem to lack. The color green is used to emphasize the website's highlights, with different shades employed to avoid monotony but keep the pages composed. In adding to Belmont's Shakespeare Performance Archive, we should employ a color scheme that flows well within the pages and between those pages and the home page. Although green and white are not related on the color wheel, paring them together does create contrast between the absence of color in the background and a pop of color in the foreground. I do wonder if the designers had added splashes of green’s complementary color, red, if even more successful layers of contrast would have been created. Organization, proximity, and alignment are also well-executed. The page is organized so that as the viewer looks down the page, the page naturally provides the information in the order that it would be wondered about, starting with an introduction, then providing options for browsing, and finally featuring a dynamic map showcasing the locations of performances whose photographs are contained in the archive. In this way, the website's organization tells the viewers what is interesting rather than forcing them to search for it themselves. Headings and other texts are spaced at uniform proximities, and with the text aligned neatly down the page. The positioning of the menu at the left side of the page makes it more visually interesting and prevents the page from appearing empty. The search bar is positioned at the top of the menu, anticipating the needs of the audience, who are likely to be engaging in research. As we modify the Belmont Shakespeare Performance archive, we should consider the needs of the audience and position useful elements accordingly. Any page, however, is not without room for improvement. The title "The Cleveland Press Shakespeare Photographs: 1870-1982” might stand out more if it had been positioned in the middle of the page rather than being right-aligned. This right-alignment is awkward for those who are accustomed to reading from left to right. Additionally, the highly composed formatting lacks emphasis of particular elements because the headings, texts, and images are so uniform. However, because the audience of this site is interested in ease of navigation and understanding information, uniformity of textual form is preferred over design elements that distract from the site’s information. Cleveland Press Shakespeare Photographs: engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/shakespeare/
We all have reasons for engaging in digital curation. Some people hope to gain popularity that can open doors to new sources of income. Others feel more confident when receiving positive feedback for their online presence. Others still simply feel they must participate in social media in order to remain in-the-know. I didn't think twice before deciding to digitally curate. In 2012 I completed a checklist of things that I would do when I turned 13. The one item I distinctively remember from that list was: make a Facebook account. Having a social media presence was, and still is, a given for members of my age group.
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Aubrey KellerAubrey is currently attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is studying English Literature and Mandarin Chinese. She is compiling this blog for her Digital Literacies course. Archives
October 2018
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