(Press-News.org) The photo-sharing application Instagram is used by millions of people around the world daily. In the media, the social media phenomenon is sometimes dismissed as trivial pastime. However, according to a fresh study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, a lot of effort often goes into a picture before it is shared.
In study, which was conducted by three researchers from the University of Gothenburg, investigated how visitors at the Gothenburg Museum of Natural History used their cellphones during a visit. Through ethnographic field studies the researchers examined how visitors documented and shared their experiences.
The study in itself is one of a kind. Since Instagram is a relatively new service, the body of research with in the area is still thin. Furthermore, the combination of Instragram and museums was previously unexplored.
"There are studies that have looked at how museum visitors use technology developed by the museums themselves, such as for example touchscreens or mobile applications. But we are among the first to investigate how visitors use their own mobile technology in the museum environment," says Post-Doc Thomas Hillman, one of the three researchers behind the study.
When the researchers analyzed the data they had collected, they were able to determine that visitors often upload many pictures from the museum during their visit, and that many of these pictures are carefully planned and edited.
"There is a conception that Instagram is used to post mostly of self-portraits and pictures of food, which can be perceived as shallow, but our research shows that there is a lot effort behind many of the pictures," says PhD Student Beata Jungselius.
The study also indicates that smart phones have changed the way we share our experiences.
"We used to document places and events by taking pictures with cameras, which we would then print and share with our closest friends. Then cellphone with cameras with introduced, and as these have evolved, along with the breakthrough of Facebook and Instagram, our way of sharing our experiences has changed," says Associate Professor Alexandra Weilenmann.
INFORMATION:
The study, Instagram at the museum - Communicating the museum experience through social photo sharing, will be presented at the internationally renowned The ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems at the end of April.
Photo: Kristina Blom
For more information about the study, please contact:
Beata Jungselius, Department of Applied IT
E-mail: beata.jungselius@gu.se
Phone: +46-735- 08 08 88
Instagram -- more than self-portraits and pictures of food
2013-04-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New fatigue model leads to more durable ships
2013-04-23
Heikki Remes, a researcher at the Aalto University in Finland, has developed a model making it possible to determine how fatigue sets in with various welded steel materials. The model allows for the development of lighter structures, and as a consequence, more energy-efficient ships.
- By utilising modern manufacturing technology and new materials, it is possible to achieve more efficient structures than the ones that currently exist. In addition, better physical models are needed to ensure structural strength, Remes says.
At present the fatigue measurements used by ...
Decoding touch
2013-04-23
We know the world through the sensory representations within our brain. Such "reconstruction" is performed through the electrical activation of neural cells, the code that contains the information that is constantly processed by the brain. If we wish to understand what are the rules followed by the representation of the world inside the brain we have to comprehend how electrical activation is linked to the sensory experience. For this reason, a team of researchers including Mathew Diamond, Houman Safaai and Moritz von Heimendahl of the International School for Advanced ...
Ticking along
2013-04-23
In a related article, also published in Parasites & Vectors, Michael Leschnik and colleagues test the effectiveness of common anti-tick measures at preventing tick-borne infections in dogs. Their results suggest that owners should be much more careful to follow the manufacturers' instructions.
Dog owners throughout central Europe secretly dread the arrival of spring. Of course it is more pleasant taking a pet for a walk when the sun is shining but having to search the animal's fur afterwards for ticks is hardly most people's idea of fun. Georg Duscher and colleagues ...
Roe deer more likely to be run over at nightfall on a Sunday in April
2013-04-23
Traffic accidents involving wildlife are on the rise in Europe. The establishment of a time pattern for the accidents could be useful for increasing safety and preventing human and animal deaths. On the basis of this objective, a team of researchers have established at what time, on what day of the week and in which month accidents involving boar and roe deer are most likely to take place.
Car accidents involving animals are a serious and growing problem in Europe. They pose a risk for human life and may result in mortal victims, damage to vehicles and the loss of wildlife.
Specifically, ...
New research findings open door to zinc-oxide-based UV lasers, LED devices
2013-04-23
Researchers from North Carolina State University have solved a long-standing materials science problem, making it possible to create new semiconductor devices using zinc oxide (ZnO) – including efficient ultraviolet (UV) lasers and LED devices for use in sensors and drinking water treatment, as well as new ferromagnetic devices.
"The challenge of using ZnO to make these devices has stumped researchers for a long time, and we've developed a solution that uses some very common elements: nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen," says Dr. Lew Reynolds, co-author of a paper describing ...
Contact killing of Salmonella by human faecal bacteria
2013-04-23
Our gut is home to trillions of bacteria, numbering more than the cells in the rest of our body, and these bacteria help us to digest our food, absorb nutrients and strengthen our immune system. This complex bacterial ecosystem, called the gut microbiota, also helps to prevent bad bacteria from colonising our bodies and making us ill.
As part of the symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and our bodies, the bacteria derive nutrition from our food and convert it into compounds that we can't make ourselves. Some of these compounds are part of the arsenal that ...
Should kids sit less or move more? CHEO Research answers
2013-04-23
Researchers have discovered that participation in physical activity of at least moderate intensity is more critical to childhood cardiometabolic health than overall sedentary time. However, when evaluating the risk of cardiovascular disease, screen time appears to be worse than overall sedentary time.
As members of TEAM PRODIGY, an inter-university research team that includes researchers from the University of Ottawa, University of Montreal, McGill University, and Laval University, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute ...
Scientists provide 'new spin' on emerging quantum technologies
2013-04-23
An international team of scientists has shed new light on a fundamental area of physics which could have important implications for future electronic devices and the transfer of information at the quantum level.
The electrical currents currently used to power electronic devices are generated by a flow of charges. However, emerging quantum technologies such as spin-electronics, make use of both charge and another intrinsic property of electrons – their spin – to transfer and process signals and information.
The experimental and theoretical work, carried out by researchers ...
Israeli scientists discover why soft corals have unique pulsating motion
2013-04-23
Jerusalem, April 23, 2013 -- Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered why Heteroxenia corals pulsate. Their work, which resolves an old scientific mystery, appears in the current issue of PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the US).
One of the most fascinating and spectacular sights in the coral reef of Eilat is the perpetual motion of the tentacles of a coral called Heteroxenia (Heteroxenia fuscescens). Heteroxenia is a soft coral from the family Xeniidae, which looks like ...
Flexible partnership allows lichens to occur in different habitats
2013-04-23
Lichens are symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungal partner and one or several algal partners. The association is so close that scientists until 1867 were not aware that lichens actually consist of two different partners. After the Swiss botanist Simon Schwendener discovered the dual nature of lichens, lichenologists were focusing on the fungal partner when studying lichens, since it was often believed that only few algae are involved in the symbiosis.
Molecular studies have shown that it was a mistake to neglect the algal partner for a long time. The diversity of ...