Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Prof. Communication Sciences faculty, Allameh Tabataba'i University
Abstract
Virtual space as a new platform for communication between the present and the absent, and even the absent with the absent, has created opportunities to expand the field of criticism and opinion, which has elevated the communication needs of today's human beings and expanded the possibility of exposure of the communication parties.
Among the common social networks in Iran today, Instagram is still very important; Because by focusing on photos or videos sent by users, which can be accompanied by explanations, it has become a medium that organizes a huge part of users' awareness and understanding of each other or the celebrities present in that space.
Before the emergence of virtual space and social networks, the relationship between teacher and student was subject to confrontations and difficult and inflexible ideas; In this way, except for the face-to-face and brief contact of the student with the teacher, who was far away from him in terms of knowledge and social status, there was no referenceable basis to complete the students' mental image of the teachers. Over time, with the rise and spread of social networks, this distant relationship turned into a closer and more visible relationship, during which the master exposed parts of his daily life and the objective aspects of his lifestyle to the public, and at its request, The students and other members of the virtual pages of these professors also find a rich and available opportunity to complete their information from them.
This is how it seems that the (active) presence of professors in social networks has provided users with a different and more attainable image than what was available before by revealing and clarifying their lives and mentalities; Transparency, which, although it can be the essence and logic of this space, will undoubtedly challenge the traditional and unattainable position of a professor.
What is intended in this research is to study how and classify the different forms of presence of university professors on Instagram and to understand the patterns through which they display aspects of their lives. Therefore, the question is, how do faculty members of Iranian universities in different disciplines portray "themselves" and their lives on Instagram?
Therefore, how is the position of professor implemented and how can different forms of professors' presence in this social network be classified? Also, by studying these pages and classifying them, is it possible to find a difference in the way faculty members implement their identity in different educational fields, including technical, experimental, and humanities, and describe this difference?
The purpose of writing this article is to study and classify different forms of presence of university professors on Instagram. A platform that allows its users, including university professors, to showcase themselves and their lives. Images that can challenge the authority and function of hierarchy existing in the relationship between professor and student and give it a different atmosphere. This study, which started with an exploratory approach in the first step, was completed with the digital ethnographic method.
Now the question is, how do the faculty members of Iranian universities in different fields depict "themselves" and their lives on Instagram? Therefore, how is the position of a professor implemented and how can different forms of professors' presence in this social network be classified? Another thing is, by studying these pages and classifying them, is it possible to understand the difference in the implementation of the identity of faculty members in different educational fields, including technical, experimental, and humanities, and describe this difference?
This is how it seems that the (active) presence of professors in social networks has given users a different and more attainable image than what was available before by revealing and clarifying their lives and mentalities. Transparency, which can be the essence and logic of this space, but will undoubtedly challenge the traditional and unattainable position of a professor.
After studying twenty user accounts in three fields of humanities, art and technical engineering, it was concluded that the presence of university professors on Instagram can be seen with four identities: academic, occasion, everyday and reactive. The data of this research shows that the mechanism of Instagram and the rules of presence in it, by removing the information veil between professors and their followers, leads to the normalization of the professor's identity and the disappearance of their traditional holy aura in this space.
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