{"id":192,"date":"2021-09-25T12:41:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T16:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/publicdiscourse\/?p=192"},"modified":"2025-10-09T12:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:07:13","slug":"instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/publicdiscourse\/instagram\/","title":{"rendered":"INSTAGRAM\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instagram presents interesting possibilities for the pairing of text and image. It is traditionally image-heavy, compared to other social media platforms, but many users have expanded its boundaries to include poetry, short essays, and book reviews. The platform is also well-suited to short, captioned informational videos.<\/span><\/p>\n

Facebook now owns Instagram, which presents ethical and practical considerations. We recommend instructors to consider and integrate into pedagogy the broader media environment – including ownership, privacy, content moderation, etc – and its ramifications for public discourse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Methods<\/b><\/p>\n

There are many directions this assignment can take. In terms of medium, it could be an Instagram post\u2014making use of image(s) and caption\u2014or a series of Instagram stories (images or videos with overlaid text and other elements). The genre of the assignment could be a poem, review, essay, reflection, call-to-action argument\/op-ed, or other project.<\/span><\/p>\n

This assignment requires an Instagram account, and a computer and\/or smartphone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructors should constrain the post medium and project (\u201cMake an instagram post, with a carousel of 1-5 images, in which you make an argument about a current controversy\u2026\u201d or \u201cMake a series of instagram stories (2-5) to tell a flash-fiction story,\u201d for example) but students may be free to approach the image-making and balance of image and text creatively. Students may format their work on paper and then take a picture to post, or use Instagram\u2019s built-in tools (text overlay, gifs, etc). In projects with multiple images (whether post or stories), students may be instructed to pay attention to the cadence of the series of images, too, using those sequences to tell their story, evoke a feeling, or apply other dramatic techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instructors may make a shared account to which students can post, or students can post to their own accounts, using a hashtag to enable the instructor to find the posts.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Smith-supported program Canva is an excellent platform to create Instagram graphics. Additional graphics media are listed on the <\/span>Digital Media & Software<\/span><\/a> page managed by the Digital Media Hub. ITS (<\/span>itshelp@smith.edu<\/span><\/a>) can provide initial assistance, or the <\/span>Educational Media Producers<\/span><\/a> (submit a ticket via this link: <\/span>Learning, Research & Technology Support<\/span><\/a>) collaborate with faculty in the development, implementation and support of curricular digital media projects and can be contacted for a consultation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instagram <\/span>help center<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

everydayafrica<\/b>, where photographers post their photos of everyday life in Africa, documenting people\u2019s normal lives, rather than the stereotypical safari photos of tourists and the like. Photos are (usually) accompanied by short interviews or essays.<\/span><\/p>\n

jeffsharlet<\/b>, Sharlet selects series of his short posts for longform word and image essays, for example, <\/span>this one<\/span><\/a> in <\/span>Longreads.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

areyouokfai<\/b>, a children\u2019s book author\/illustrator, produced a remarkable biographical series on Richard Scarry that can serve as a model for student work. The first in the series is <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

nativeplantproject<\/b> produces short videos about land restoration and about native plant care and ecology in natural spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

interested_in_plants<\/b> posts photographs of Western Massachusetts plants and insects with information about their biology and ecology.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a giant contingent of \u201cInstagram Poets\u201d who post their work in these ways, operating under different related hashtags: <\/span>#Instagrampoets<\/b>, <\/span>#Instagrampoetry<\/b>, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Book reviews are all over Instagram, under hashtags <\/span>#bookreview<\/b>, <\/span>#bookreviews<\/b>, <\/span>#bookreviewer<\/b>, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

subwaybookreview<\/b> interviews people reading on subways all over the world, to get their short takes on the books they\u2019re reading.<\/span><\/p>\n

Learning Goals:<\/b><\/p>\n