Curated Content: an exploration of the act of (digital) mark-making in the form of analogue drawings

Abstract

This paper proposes that posted online content can be understood as (digital) mark-making. Through research as creative practice in the form of drawings created with grey-lead pencil on paper (an analogue form of mark-making), the notion of (digital) mark-making is explored as an existential act. Dating back thousands of years, human mark-marking in the form of handprints can be found in caves in many parts of the world, a declaration that ‘I was here!’ Mark-making plays a role in human becoming, the self an ongoing creation rather than already being created, and over time, forms of mark-making evolved into artistic practice, cultural transmission, language and narrative modes for storytelling. With the introduction of the Internet, online content creation fulfils the same roles as traditional mark-making. Posting content online has become an existential act, a way to document one's existence and give proof of presence through storytelling – acts of (digital) mark-making. Current theories on the nature and social functionality of the Internet, particularly social media as modes for storytelling, are engaged to reflexively analyse the drawings which express human-lived experiences that now oscillate between virtuality and reality.