In the Machines of Knowledge course, I have learned a great deal about three very important technologies. These theories are post-colonial theory, feminist theory and theory about public spheres. Thanks to these theories, I have gained a deeper understanding about many haps and mishaps in our modern-day society. To engage with the theories in a practical way, the course invited us to conduct our own text analysis with the help of digital analysis programmes. In my case, the analysis was about gender norms in men and the display of their feelings, and how this is interpreted and seen by society. Since men are often stereotyped like they need to be ‘manly’; that is, they should not cry or display emotions of any kind, for that matter. Interestingly, this principle does not apply to gay or queer men, as they are often portrayed to be overly emotional and sensitive. This is simultaneously seen as ‘not manly’, which implies that queer men are not ‘real men’. That point of view is obviously outdated and should be changed.
Through text analysis, I investigated the change and discourse of this problem. Text analysis was not something I had done before already. The course introduced me to new software to use, such as Voyant tools and text cleaner. My tutor spent a lot of time teaching us how to use the software. I found this quite a hard task. Especially cleaning the text did not seem to work as easy as it should. However, after many tries and some frustration, it worked out in the end. Voyant created clear graphs of all sorts and shapes to analyse the new-found data. Even though I did not realise it immediately at the time, this is really when the hard part starts. I found it quite the challenge to make sense of the graphs that Voyant created with my data! But, with some help of the tutor and some imaginative interpretation skills, I think the results really show new insights for the topic. I will share the new insights in another blogpost when I have added the finishing touch. I hope you have fun reading it! Until next time…
Category: Machines of Knowledge
The World Wide Web has evolved from what was, by and large, an information space, to one that, increasingly, utilises narrative techniques to tell stories. From advertising to journalism, from heritage institutions to individuals, the Web is awash with stories. Stories help us organise and make sense of our lives and the society and culture around us. The formats and modalities of digital narratives can remediate analogue forms, but increasingly new multimodal formats are being developed which take advantage of the affordances of relatively new Web technologies. They are not only conveyed in textual form, but also encompass the oral, and the numeric, as well as maps, prints, music, recorded sound, films, videos, and any other computer-stored information. Thus, the forms of narrative transmission become part of the meaning-making process, as well as our own situatedness in time and space. This category will show my experiences with digital archives, digital maker culture and making my own things such as a podcast.
Why Clothing Matters – lessons from the #shirtgate controversy
In 2014, Dr. Matt Taylor, a physicist and scientist from the European Space Agency who was part of the Rosetta Mission caused an outrage also known on social medias as #shirtgate or #shirtflap. He appeared on “BBC Breakfast” and a European Space Agency live stream to give an update on the mission while wearing a bowling shirt with a print of half-naked women in compromising positions.
This led to outrage on social media, putting Matt Taylor into an awkward position as he became the central figure in a debate around sexism, women in science and appropriate attire in professional scenes. Reactions like this could be found all over social media:
“One small shirt for a man, one giant sexist remark for mankind #shirtgate #CometLanding”
@missafayres on twitter
November 12, 2014
In response to the outrage, Dr. Taylor issued a public apology, in which he was visibly emotional and wore a plain zip-up hoodie as a sign of remorse. At the same time, Elly Prizeman – a friend of Dr. Taylor – also issued a statement saying that she was the creator of the shirt in question, and that it had been a birthday present. She felt it was a nice gesture of Dr. Taylor to wear the shirt in a public setting.
Even though many people took to the defense of Dr. Taylor, claiming that it was an innocent mistake, also taking in account the perspective of Elly Prizeman. This unintentionality is exactly what makes this debate so heated and complicated. Although there might not have been any harmful intent on Dr. Taylor’s part, it is important to remember that people’s attire does contain a certain iconography, which could contain a hurtful message.
In the context of the sciences, in which women already take an incredibly marginalized position, the shirt of Dr Taylor takes on an additional layer of meaning. The stereotypical depictions of women on the shirt can be seen as yet another example of the underrepresentation and stereotypical view of women in the dominant male culture of the sciences.
Whether or not Dr. Taylor’s intentions when wearing the shirt were innocent or not is only a small part of a much larger discussion. At the heart of this debate lies the representation of women in society, and how even simple depictions of women on banal items can prove to have malicious effects. These depictions can have rather negative connotations and can distract from the important message – in this case a scientific landmark.
All of this debate and outrage can be avoided in the future rather simply, if we all keep in mind that the clothing we wear matters.