Admittedly, I know little about Pinterest. But judging by the site’s membership, now topping 10 million worldwide, many of you are familiar with the social media site. Members have been “pinning” their favorite items—images, videos, messages, etc.—to themed, virtual pin boards since 2010. Nor am I representative of most sociologists: just check out the contributions from Gwen Sharp and Lisa Wade over at Sociological Images or the teaching-centric boards compiled by self-professed public sociologists at The Sociological Cinema to see what I mean.
Beyond how it’s already being used, Deborah Lupton, a sociologist at the University of Sydney, suggests in The Australian that Pinterest also offers a creative way to organize research materials. Lupton has created a board for each of her areas of intellectual inquiry. As Lupton explains, “Because of its emphasis on the visual; [Pinterest is] perfect for curating and displaying images that are related to the subject matter one is researching or teaching.”
So whether you’re planning your summer travel itinerary, next semester’s syllabus, or your next research grant—tap in to the inspiration!
Comments 6
Brigid Keely — June 30, 2012
I use it in part to pin character-related stuff for fiction I'm writing. What clothing, accessories, cars, houses, books, etc would a character wear/use/live in? I've seen other authors do the same, especially for books set in the past where they need to get historical clothing details, maps, architecture, etc right. It's really interesting.
Sarah Shannon — June 30, 2012
I had no interest in Pinterest until now!
Letta Page — June 30, 2012
There's also this great post on using Pinterest to teach (in this case, to teach about feminism specifically) over on the TSP blog Cyborgology: http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/03/05/pinterest-and-feminism/
Deborah Lupton — June 30, 2012
Thank you for the mention! I have written a more detailed account of Pinterest for sociologists and other social scientists here if anyone is interested in reading more: http://simplysociology.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/how-sociologists-and-other-social-scientists-can-use-pinterest/