Pinterest Readings

Submitted by iamdan on Thu, 04/02/2020 - 14:53

Read the articles linked below, and then add or respond to a comment with your thoughts. (You may need to login to the UNC library for access.)

A Site for Fresh Eyes: Pinterest's Challenge to Traditional Digital Literacies

Collecting Girlhood: Pinterest Cyber Collections Archive Available Female Identities

 

 

Comments

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Submitted by emmakoslow on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 14:16

Personally, my opinion may be slightly biased as I am obsessed with Pinterest and was super excited to work on this project. I do slightly agree with what is being said in the articles. Pinterest was one of my first introductions to social media. My parents, who were fairly strict about internet safety, I was older than most to get an Instagram. But when I first was allowed to get my own computer, my mom told me about Pinterest. It taught me the way that social media can be used safely and how people can come together based on their interests. It truly introduces digital literacy to an audience that may not have much experience using the internet or social media. 

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Submitted by Shawna Sheperd on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 19:43

I found these two articles extremely interesting becauses I never really thought about the relationship between gender and technology (as mentioned in Collecting Girlhood). I like to think of Pinterest as a way for girls or women to form an online identity. I found even more engaging was the idea that the “identity” created might not represent a girl as she is but who she wants to become in the future. This is a very encouraging and positive view of Pinterest as a platform (while at the same time recognizing Pinterest was developed with a bias in mind.) In A Site for Fresh Eyes, Tekobbe also brought up specific differences in gender online activity that have been expounded on previously. I like how she takes a different perspective on Pinterest (denying that Pinterest was a passive feminine interaction) by arguing how Pinterest demonstrates digital literacy practices by creating shared networks and collectively and individually organizing information.

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Submitted by alexmorton on Sun, 04/05/2020 - 20:37

In preparing for this project, I was surprised to find that I already had a Pinterest account (if this gives any indication for how long ago I had used it). I found the readings to be concurrent with my previous views of the platform and some of the stereotypes I associated with it. “A Sight for Fresh Eyes” expressed Pinterest as a socially relevant tool for expanding digital literacy. Pinterest does seem to be a much friendlier and more stimulating place that combines aspirations with true personal interests, making it more “real” in a way than a platform like Instagram that exemplifies “perfection”. Pinterest seems to give people a space to organize ideas and share them in a way that could enthuse others, making it much more than a gender-specific site and more so one that encourages connections. In this sense, Pinterest has become an important tool in opening the door for many people who do not want to be a part of or have not been introduced to the more cut-throat social platforms, especially with the ever-increasing standards these other networks hold.

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Submitted by natalyv on Tue, 04/07/2020 - 06:02

I have had a Pinterest account since middle school where my boards for wedding ideas first came to fruition. I absolutely agree with your perception of Pinterest as a more accessible and realistic social media platform and method to expand digital literacy as it makes things seem more attainable than platforms as idealistic as Instagram. It definitely seems "friendlier" as you observed since it truly is comprised of communities of various interest groups sharing knowledge and ideas in an organized and enjoyable format. I can also agree with the notion that Pinterest is biased towards women, given the fact that I absolutely fit the stereotype of a female completely enthralled by beautiful photos of wedding venues and dresses, in addition to creative recipes. However, I also support the opportunistic view of the platform that aims to develop connections between people, regardless of gender, based on common interests to further develop communities and expand the sense of inclusivity. Pinterest was the first social media account I created that I actually used as others were not as enjoyable or inviting in my opinion, but the captivating platform that definitely aimed to draw female uses seemed much more welcoming and useful, as well as easy to operate. The ease at which one can utilize everything Pinterest has to offer emphasizes the gateway it became for many as they eased into the world of social media, learning digital literacy in an enjoyable way. I see Pinterest as a guide for me as it led me to use other platforms, only this one was much easier, inviting, and phenomenal at setting my standards for weddings much higher than they should be.

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Submitted by cschnitz on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 13:36

I like and buy Tekobbe's argument that the (largely female) community built on Pinterest "demonstrates rich digital literacy practices by creating elaborate information-sharing networks and by collectively and individually organizing information as pastiche, montage, art, and, ultimately, as a statement of digital/virtual identity." One concern that I can't seem to shake, though, is Pinterest's explicit tie to consumerism and capitalism, in a way that feels categorically different than other (perhaps less gendered) social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, or Reddit (which, now that I think about it, may be more gendered male). While these other social networking sites rely on capitalist/consumerist infrastructure, in the form of ad revenue of course, their express purpose is something else—their main metric of engagement is time on site or content produced by a user (discourse, as it were), not click throughs to items for purchase or aggregations/collages of items/tutorials. This raises a couple of questions for me—can Pinterest be reclaimed as a place for an expressly feminist vein of capitalism, in its development of digital literacies? I'm not so sure, since capitalist practice often runs very counter to feminist ideals, but it's maybe worth thinking about? Also, perhaps a more fundamental question, can Pinterest (and the digital literacies it encourages) exist without consumerism and capitalism? What would that look like? 

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Submitted by KaylaGibson on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 17:10

I was immediately struck by the Tekobbe article as her argument has similar roots to many of my arguments in my master's thesis. She states how there are voices in the technology sector who speak out against Pinterest because it's nontraditional: "These privileged voices assess Pinterest as a community of women who indulge in silly feminine daydreams rather than engage in the serious work of valuable content creation" (p. 382). This concept that daily life is somehow inferior to academic work is both frustrating and degrading. It reminds me of the field of Everyday Life Information Seeking (nestled within Library and Information Science), which was coined by Savolainen in 1995. He fought to convince scholars and academics that important and worthy research could and should be done about daily life. From there, it wasn't really until Hartel in 2010 merged the sociology concept of the Serious Leisure Perspective that we saw a push to include research that celebrated information seeking in hobbies, many of which have large, active communities and boards on Pinterest. Tekobbe's Figure 2 is a great example. It shows how people try to brush away any significance to the act of planning a wedding since the assumption is it's only done by women and thus frivolous and not worth any time spent investigating it further. However, researchers like Hartel and Savolainen would point out that planning a wedding is in fact important because it shows us how people search for, ingest, organize, and create something from information. As Tekobbe argues, this is deserving of research and attention.

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Submitted by ifsmith on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 17:40

Almjeld makes the interesting point that meaning-making is often considered "more valuable" when it is expressed through words than images. Almjeld also suggests that images are associated with women and with the body. A lot of the most used social media apps are image-based, like Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. The only social media platforms that I would consider text-centric are Twitter and Reddit. These gendered distinctions do seem to play out in real life, but I would argue that the image based platforms allow people to gain more social and economic status that the word based platforms (sponsoring and advertising).

The consumption aspect of Pinterest seems to contradict the DIY, crafty, eco-minimalist trends that I see dominating the Pinterest-sphere. Although these narratives have their faults, they tend to be less "damaging" than stereotypical narratives of consumption. Regardless, I thought Almjeld's conclusion, that Pinterest is a site for navigating the creation of an identity amidst a complex world of expectations and subversion, was useful. I've found this to be true for my use of instagram. Occasionally I will realize that the content someone is producing is making me want to buy something or be a certain way that I am not and I have to reevaluate how I am engaging with them. I think being in dialogue with yourself and your capacity to form a digital identity is key to using any online tool. 

The Tekobbe article clarified the difference between Pinterest and other social media sites. I like the point she made about the logical structure of Pinterest existing below the surface; users do not necessarily know how their searches and algorithms are operating, but that is part of the user experience. I kept thinking about the difference between content collection and creation. I think that making a Pinterest board is an act of content creation-- lots of new ideas and images emerge by putting things next to eachother. 

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Submitted by SabrinaZirkle on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 19:38

When I was in high school, Pinterest was the first social media that I used. I loved how it could help me collect ideas for my graphic design class and bake Nutella croissants with friends. However, like with other social media, it can also be used to cultivate an unrealistic lifestyle or standard that others feel pressured to live up to. Not every mom has the tie or resources to make adorable school lunches, and I never had the funds to buy all the trendy clothing that photos on Pinterest offered me. I don't think this problem necessarily correlates with the fact that the platform has a predominately female audience, and has more to do with what our society has decided to put on the internet. I agree with the author of the first article that literary and artistic content that girls and women enjoy more than men do is often ridiculed. For example, a few months ago, the internet started mocking "VSCO girls" for having a predictable and semi-uniform aesthetic, but doesn't every style have its defined elements to be considered a style?

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Submitted by natalie.p98 on Mon, 04/06/2020 - 21:51

I have always had a soft spot for Pinterest. I used it heavily in high school to plan out projects, find DIYs for props (I was a theater technician in high school), and just collect images and ideas to use in my writing. I particularly resonate with Almjeld's statements of Pinterest acting as a way to collect things related to our identities. I do think one's Pinterest boards may be more representative of their identity online than other online platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. I think other online platforms emphasize this need for you to display yourself in a specific way, and this display may not always be "true" and could be fabricated for one's followers. I think Pinterest allows one to demonstrate things about their identity other online platforms cannot; for example, someone who follows my Instagram would not really know what foods I like, what I enjoy writing about, or what hobbies I enjoy, yet someone who follows my Pinterest would be able to see all these aspects of my identity. I like seeing Pinterest as a "collection" of one's identity work, especially since, when looking back at my boards, I think it provides an archive of what I enjoyed in high school and what I was involved with at the time.

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Submitted by dannych on Tue, 04/07/2020 - 01:05

The readings today brought me back to the discussion we had earlier in the semester on why computers are the way that they are (i.e., why do work on a "Desktop" with "Files" instead of a "Kitchen" with a "Spice rack"?). Back to the idea that the construction of computer programming as we know it is embedded with past societal markers. In "A Site for Fresh Eyes," Tekobbe discusses how Pinterest provides a platform for collecting data in a different format than traditionally used with computers. This new platform allows women to work with technology in ways different than legacy systems were designed, which were largely designed without women present (387). But, because this new format is different than legacy systems (i.e. Google Bookmarks), it is branded as a lesser item and shunned by men. 

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Submitted by Mason Laney on Tue, 04/07/2020 - 03:43

As someone who has never really used Pinterest and have very little knowledge of it, I found both of these articles interesting.

For the Tekobbe article, I definitely agreed with the idea that much of technology is based on legacy knowledge that women may not possess due to historic factors. As someone studying computer science, I am very much aware of this issue, especially as it relates to the more technical aspects of computing. However, I got kind of confused when the article started explaining how Reddit and other such "traditional" sites were guilty of this sort of legacy knowledge requirement and Pinterest was not. I'm not arguing that Tekobbe is wrong here, and I think her overarching arguments make a lot of sense, I guess I just don't really understand how text-based hierarchies and system rules being separated from data input play into all of this.

I really resonated with Almjeld's description of Pinterest as unfortunately rather commercial. As I already mentioned, before starting this project, I had very little knowledge of Pinterest. I knew that it was a site that existed, but I don't even know that I would have said it was a social media site as much as an apparent image hosting site (considering that all of my interactions with it were me trying to find the source of an image on Google images and clicking on the image only for it to bring me to a Pinterest page that didn't even have the image on it). Those few times that I found myself on the site, I never understood the attraction because it seemed so... impersonal (which is interesting considering the articles we just read). It was probably because I didn't have an account that was tailor-made to feed me images of things I was interested in, but all of the images I saw seemed like ads or stock images. The rich human interaction and input I'm used to in things like Reddit just weren't there; there were no long comment chains or anecdotes or insightful advice. It seemed so barren and corporate to me. But, like I said, I think my experience is mostly just a combination of me not understanding the way Pinterest works and the fact that the site had no data to give me interesting pins based on.

I think that the reason that many (male) people on the internet are so averse to Pinterest is the fact that it is based on sharing things made by others, which is something generally frowned upon by other sites. For example, on Reddit (which I will use as an example because it is the site I am most familiar with, and it seems similar to Pinterest in the fact that you don't directly follow individuals unlike other social media sites), a big emphasis is placed on OC ("original content"), that is, content that the poster created themselves. However, "reposting" something that somebody else created is regarded as bad because it often seems like the poster is lazy and is trying to steal the credit for someone else's work. Thus, when someone who is not familiar with Pinterest gives it a cursory glance, it can easily appear like the users are "lazy" for simply sharing what someone else created. I think what these people are missing is that perhaps there can be thought and creativity and creation in the ways these pins are organized and presented. On other sites, there is usually only a single way to share and organize information, so users only familiar with those sites may not realize that Pinterest is designed to give people agency in the way that they present content. Additionally, since Pinterest is designed around such sharing of content, I would say it is more acceptable for people to share something that they themselves did not create.

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Submitted by Jane McGrail on Tue, 04/07/2020 - 11:29

I think that Almjeld is right to point out that Pinterest can often put young girls in the position of “passively reproducing limiting scripts about gender in the pins that [they] circulate.” Reading these articles in conversation with one another was very productive because I like Tekobbe’s argument that digital literacy needs to be more broadly defined and measured in different ways because traditional measures often exclude women, but I share Almjeld’s concern about Pinterest. Pinterest is an interesting platform that, as both authors point out, makes room for a technology that is centered on the user experience of women. However, in some cases it also seems like a platform that preys on individuality by encouraging women to believe in one right definition of femininity. Almjeld calls it “a space where users write and are written into scripts for performing femininity.” I have seen this play out with a number of friends around my age who use Pinterest to define their own taste (particularly as they’re decorating spaces) and end up with a product that lacks any individuality and looks exactly like everyone else’s. One former colleague even told me she was “designing the Pinterest home of her dreams.” I think that it is important to have a space that values the kinds of digital literacy that is more widely accessible, but I hesitate to think it’s a good thing that Pinterest is a primarily women’s domain that often defines norms and enforces sameness.

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