Top of the screen
When accessing the three applications on the laptop
we are presented with a multi-zoned top/bottom screen orientation with the
navigational and filtering tabs at the top, inviting the user to upload or access
the artworks.
Jewitt and Oyama (2001) and Kress and van Leeuwen
(2006) suggest that in social semiotics this top area represents an idealised
space, a hub of potential activity. For instance in the case of ArtStack, Pictify and Trover, the user will observe tabs entitled ‘ Museum/Galleries’, ‘On Show’,
‘Exhibitions’, ‘Places & Lists’ as well as ‘Explore’ which are
all crucial in the context of these particular social media applications.
The ‘search’ facility is also
located at the top and may either be positioned left or right. This is a
functionality offered by all three apps and given extra salience by the use of
a ‘magnifying glass’ icon. Although the user is given a sense of control,
any results of a search or filtering is determined by the community uploads,
with the emphasis on analytics. An updated screen presents the user with new
tabs entitled ‘Most Stacked’ , ‘Recently Added’, ‘Chronological, ‘Trending’, ‘Most Liked’, ‘Most Commented’,
‘Latest Posts’, ‘What’s Hot’, ‘Top Trovers’, ‘Featured Lists’, clearly these are
all tabs that direct the user to the most popular artworks, driving the
curating away from the personal to the community.
The salience of all these tabs is based on their
screen positions and always sited at the top, the hub of potential activity.
Still at the top of the screen,
all three apps give special functionality to the right hand corner. Jewitt and
Oyama (2001) and Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) highlight that the right-hand
zone may refer to the ‘not yet known’ or ‘the new’ and indicates an area which
users should pay special attention to.
In the next section, the discussion will focus on the second layer of the methodological model, considering the temporal, shadowed and situated.
For the three apps, accessing
this part of the screen offers a mixture of both new information and the
familiar. Here we find regularly updated statistics on how many users are
engaging with the artworks and how users can keep track of artworks and other
users. The statistical data is give particular salience, represented by a
bright red number.
A second feature of the top right
hand corner is the gateway for the user to build a personal space. This prime
feature of all the apps is the manner in which it separates various curatorial
spaces. Unlike other visual media such as magazines, cinema or television where
the user does not have the option to move around on the screen, the framing
here temporarily connects (but never fully disconnects) the user away from the public
spaces. However, the personal space does not imply a private activity,
only a platform for ‘micro-individualised interests’ (Kress, 2011, p. 194).
Centre of the Screen
The ‘upload images’ tab of the three
social media applications, fundamental to their commercial viability, can be
positioned in left, right or centre top locations. Uploading photos results in the user accessing the centre of
the screen, whereby any new materials can be viewed, refreshed from the left to
the right. This follows the social semiotic observations made by Jewitt and
Oyama (2001) and Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) indicating that the apps are following
the left to right Western tradition of reading.
Furthermore, Jewitt and Oyama
(2001) refer to this centrality of the screen as what holds the marginal
elements together, which on social media spaces is represented by the underlying
database feeding the on-screen repository. All three applications use simple
templates for presenting the artworks, using coloured borders combining images
and text.
This feature would align with
what Jewitt and Oyama (2001) and Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) suggest as
‘framing’, whereby images and text are combined or
separated.
Summary
I demonstrated
how a social semiotics analysis highlights a number of key screen areas that play an important role in social media curating. However, the top/centre
zone and left or right are weak indications for capturing user attention.
Social media are driven by analytics which determine the conditions of the
temporal, shadowed and situated, and may be employed in all parts of the
screen, giving the operation a perfomative quality. Furthermore, the framing of
the artworks and their salience is of a temporary nature, each screen 'an
orchestrated ensemble' (Kress, 2011, p 161) enabling the curator to select,
assemble and design (capture) the artwork or graffiti whilst on the move.
