Parle vous tumblr?

If language creates its own reality (Van Luyn, 2013), then tumblr has formed its own dialect for communicating and creating place in a virtual space.

(Image 1: FBCover24.com, 2013)

This week’s reading, Tuan’s Language and the making of place (1991), offers powerful insights into the power of language and words ‘to render [the] invisible, visible’ and impart certain meaning to the formerly unattended notion or object (Tuan, 1991). It is in this manner I wish to examine the language of ‘tumblring’ and how bloggers interact and form places or profiles in the untouchable and invisible space that is the cyber world.

Communication on tumblr is a process of blogging, re-blogging, liking, commenting, adding, deleting, un-following and browsing; all within the domain of this micro-blogging platform. As argued elsewhere (Tuan, 1991, 693), ‘[users’] have the power to build... [and] to destroy’. If I no longer enjoy the post put up by smashin-pumkins, click delete. I see a photo of the Eiffel tower I like, click re-blog thus creating a new place on my page. I like the posts of missmonroes so I click follow and enable frequent interaction with this user’s profile. This interaction and communication, much like the image above, are more about the implied meaning and rely heavily on symbolism. It is apparent that social networking sites like tumblr heighten our ability to both create and destroy place.  

Thus drawing from my own experience on tumblr, I feel I have been exposed to more creative power, artiscally and in my active role of place-making. I have the power to create my own user name, chose who I want to follow, what pages and posts I view right down to the colour, font and layout of my own profile. Given ‘space becomes place by people imposing meaning on it’ (Van Luyn, 2013), the cyber space of my tumblr profile is effectively transformed into my place by the imposed meaningfulness of layout, colour, text and the posts I blog on my tumblr profile. I render the ‘invisible’ aspects of my personality and my own sense of style ‘visible’ to other tumblr users. If you have the time, check me out: http://bonne-nuit-minuit.tumblr.com/  

APA reference list:

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. In Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.

Van, Luyn. (Lecturere). (2013, August 28). Narratives and Place. Podcast retrieved from

https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_312_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_50513_1%26url%3D

Image reference list:

FBCover24.com. (2013). Retrieved from

https://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=667&q=i+done%27t+like+you+i+love+you&oq=i+done%27t+like+you+i+love+you&gs