theinstagramarchive.hosting.nyu.edu Open in urlscan Pro
159.203.92.10  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

GET https://theinstagramarchive.hosting.nyu.edu/

<form role="search" method="get" action="https://theinstagramarchive.hosting.nyu.edu/" class="wp-block-search__button-outside wp-block-search__text-button wp-block-search"><label for="wp-block-search__input-1"
    class="wp-block-search__label">Search</label>
  <div class="wp-block-search__inside-wrapper"><input type="search" id="wp-block-search__input-1" class="wp-block-search__input" name="s" value="" placeholder="" required=""><button type="submit" class="wp-block-search__button ">Search</button></div>
</form>

Text Content

Skip to content


THE INSTAGRAM ARCHIVE

A virtual experience exploring the history of Instgram on societal and cultural
norms

Menu Close
 * Home/About
 * Historical ChangesOpen menu
   * History of Instagram and Meta
   * Instagram Updates Through Time
 * Data Breaching and Privacy
 * Contact

The Instagram Archive prototype is an uprising, collaborative digital history
project that allows the audience to understand how the Instagram social media
network positively and negatively affected society as a whole and cultural
practices in the U.S. The prototype as of Dec. 20, 2021, has three “exhibits” to
explore the answer to this question: History of Instagram, Updates of the
Instagram app, and an analysis of the Data and Privacy regulations of the app as
of December 2021. This prototype is meant to expand in future times, serving as
a means of preservation, and a visual and analytical representation of how
society and culture have changed because of the app since 2010. The current
angle of the exhibit focuses on the shift in motives of the app since Meta
(formerly Facebook) bought Instagram in 2012. This prototype also attempts to
contribute directly to the lack of research in the forms of new media.

Lisa Gitelman claims in her book Always Already New: Media, History, and the
Data of Culture how “new media depends intricately on the whole social context
within which production and consumption get defined . . . rather than merely on
producers and consumers themselves” (15). This definition drives the purpose of
the prototype besides the overall thesis, as a form of research on social media
as new media, and Web 2.0 as new media. These new media serve as “historical
subjects” according to Gitelman, and will be the base of other new media in the
future. This is because Gitelman also claims how media is a term that is “thrown
around” and gets used very vaguely and often confused with a medium (2).
However, it is concluded the new media always stems from old media due to
“pastness” and can be viewed as historical subjects (5). Gitelman’s claims allow
The Instagram Archive to also be interpreted as a historical subject, while also
informing scholars and the general public about the major effects of Instagram.
The prototype is not only a form of new media (a digital website) but also a
tool for analyzing the pastness of a new media (history of Instagram and its
development). 

Two forms of new media that are contributing to Digital Humanities (DH)
research, and directly inspired the creation of The Instagram Archive are
digital archives and social media studies. A proposed definition of the new
media form of archive (also known as Archive 2.0) by Kate Theimer, is supported
by Amy Williams. The definition is described as “an approach to archival
practice that promotes openness and flexibility’’ which ‘‘argues that archivists
must be user-centered and embrace opportunities to use technology to share
collections, interact with users, and improve internal efficiency” (qtd. in
Williams 369). Williams elaborates on this definition of how new media forms of
archives are extremely flexible, because it involves a “paradigm shift” of more
collaboration through an interdisciplinary lens, and challenges the traditional
definition of an archive. One example of an “archive 2.0” are digital history
projects that combine technology and scholarship as a method to answer a
particular research question (Williams 369). However, digital history projects
can be separated from an archive “because the project may not have any existing
archival materials placed on the web” (Williams 372). 

Based on Williams’s claims about Archive 2.0, The Instagram Archive challenges
some claims to be both a mix of a digital archive and digital history project.
On one hand, the prototype has multiple screenshots of the Data and Privacy
policy with annotations next to each explaining what it means for the social
media user and how it affects culture. These screenshots serve as historical
evidence of how data was being curated in the early 21st century. On the other
hand, the two other exhibits use tools like timelines and graphics to explain
the history of an aspect (in the prototype’s case, the history of production and
updates), and non-existing archival materials. Williams’s claims establish how
The Instagram Archive is a digital history project that incorporates Archive 2.0
characteristics to prove and elaborate on the thesis of how Instagram has
affected society and culture since its emergence. 

Social media is still a relatively new “topic” of scholarly research, especially
with Instagram. From conducting research, it is important to note that there are
only two notable books that break down the cultural impact of Instagram. One is
heavily praised which is called Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures by Tama
Leaver, Tim Highfield, and Crystal Abidin, who are all scholars in media
studies. This book was not used for this project due to the lack of digital
copies, but reviews of the book were read to determine what other scholars were
saying about Instagram and culture. In a journal review by Kathleen M. Kuehn on
the book, she claims how “The chapter also makes clear how strong Facebook’s
interventions have been over its development and commercialisation, although the
authors do not take an explicitly clear position on the debate,” referring to
the first Chapter of the book “Platform”. This is exactly the aim for this
version of the prototype, except instead of a book, it is being presented in a
digital format. 

The other book is No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier, a
reporter for Bloomberg News with a social media beat. Her goal is to also
explore the cultural impact of Instagram through her book (Frier 11). The book
explains largely about how Meta incooporating Instagram affected the app’s
impact on culture. “After the sale, the Instagram founders became disillusioned
with Facebook’s utilitarian grow-at-all-costs culture and resisted it, focusing
instead on building a thoughtfully crafted product, where what’s popular is
shaped by Instagram’s own storytelling about its biggest users,” (Frier 12).
This comes from the introduction of the book, which explains what the History
section of The Instagram Archive does, but with more detail. Due to time
constraints, it was difficult to read the entire book. However, reading this
introduction allowed me to get a better understanding of how this sale wasn’t a
mistake, but without it, could’ve detrimentally changed the way the app is
today, and possibly our culture. Because Meta is turning into a social media
conglomerate with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, it is fair to say that it
controls our culture.

Scholars such as Danah Boyd, analyze social media and study its impacts. Boyd
claims in her chapter “Participating in the Always-On Lifestyle” to the book The
Social Media Radar edited by Michael Mandiberg that “Being always-on works best
when the people around you are always-on, and the networks of always-on-ers are
defined more by values and lifestyle than by generation” (Boyd 72). Boyd also
concludes her chapter by stating how “Being always-on and living a public life
through social media may complicate our lives in new ways, but participating can
also enrich the tapestry of life” (76). Boyd’s chapter and the claims explain
how social media is defining our lifestyle, while also keeping us connected. In
addition, this chapter adds to the general theme of The Instagram Archive, of
how with more and more updates, Instagram is further connecting people with one
another, and businesses with consumers. Boyd’s claims also demonstrate how
social media has become an aesthetic and defines the type of culture people
exuberate to the public. 

Boyd also explains in another essay Social Networked Sites as Networked Publics:
Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications how social network sites can be defined
as networked publics. It is claimed that “Understanding the properties,
affordances, and dynamics common to networked publics provides a valuable
framework for working out the logic of social practices” (1). Therefore,
studying social media and their networking aspects of them, such as with
Instagram in The Instagram Archive, will reveal why popular culture is in the
state it is today. It will help scholars and the public understand why certain
behaviors of society exist.

Although The Instagram Archive is supposed to be a resource that analyzes the
cultural impact of Instagram, it was important to research what other scholars
have already said about contemporary behaviors regarding the Instagram app, and
apply their perspective on culture to my project. According to a Pew Research
survey analyzing social media use in 2021, younger adults (18-27 years old) tend
to use Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok more. 71% of this age group use Instagram
(Auxier and Anderson). In addition, 73% of this age group visit the app at least
once a day, and 53% visit multiple times a day. Knowing this information gives
contact to the cultural impact that the project is studying. 

More research was done regarding producing the pages for this website, in
addition to absorbing scholarly commentary on the cultural impact of social
media as a whole. These resources can be found in the bibliography below.
Overall, the research for this project served more as a guide for structuring
the website. Regarding the cultural research, this is interpreted differently
because of the differing amounts of time on social media, generation, and
demographic background. Therefore, the cultural impact of this prototype is
meant to be self-determined by the user. 

Search
Search


RECENT POSTS


RECENT COMMENTS

No comments to show.


ARCHIVES

No archives to show.


CATEGORIES

 * No categories

Proudly powered by WordPress.
Dark Mode: