Exercise 9 - Social Media & Me

I am a very sparse user of social media.  I have firmly resisted joining Facebook as I’ve absolutely no desire to share the minutiae of my daily life with the world.  Nor, rather meanly (I admit), do I wish to be updated with the boring daily details that I know my siblings post – enough is enough in my books.  I still prefer one on one conversations where details are shared between two (even if that does sometimes take place by text rather than phone).  

I’ve also resisted Facebook and the like as I am unwilling to share (or have shared) tagged photos of my children on the internet.  As they age, I know the time is coming when they will establish their own social media profiles, however, I think they have the right to create (and curate) these profiles for themselves.  They don’t need baby and childhood photos preserved in eternity for the world to view – they are more than capable of creating their own embarrassment without me starting it for them!     

I do however use the review functions of social media – for example I use and contribute to TripAdvisor.  I find this type of site very useful to filter and screen for bad experiences when booking accommodation in places I have never visited.  I also know its power – as I have a sibling who is in the restaurant trade and am often hearing of the consequences of a bad review, and the steps restaurants will undertake to mollify an unhappy patron BEFORE a negative review is posted.

I also have a LinkedIn profile, but only because a sibling bullied me into it.  I was informed – in no uncertain terms - that it was necessary if I wanted to be gainfully employed in the modern world that I have an online presence a potential employer could search, rather than being invisible!!  We compromised at LinkedIn as it is professional rather than personal.  Although I do admit that I rarely look at it, and have really only tinkered around the edges of the profile that I established when I started the LIS course in 2014…

Exercise 3 - Flickr and Photo Sharing

The National Library of New Zealand posts photos on Flickr as “National Library NZ on The Commons”.  The link is https://www.flickr.com/photos/nationallibrarynz_commons  Most of the photos uploaded by the library are historical photos from the library’s records. 

There is one particular photo on the photostream that struck me because of its atmosphere.  It is entitled “New Zealand troops training in Belgium, rehearsing the attack on Messines”.  The photograph taken 1917 by Henry Armytage Sanders.

It shows armed soldiers moving forward in loose formation.  The soldiers in the middle and backgrounds are obscured by dust, mist or artillery smoke.  The desolation of the scene, the barren ground, the spacing between the soldiers, and the black and white nature of the photo all serve to create a melancholy atmosphere.  Although the photograph shows NZ soldiers training for a battle on the Somme, the aura of the photo gives the uncomfortable impression of men matching resignedly to their deaths.

The reference attached to the photo is: New Zealand troops training in Belgium, rehearsing the attack on Messines. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association : New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918. Ref: 1/2-012750-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.  natlib.govt.nz/records/22796906.   The photo appears below