"Welcome," "Thank You," and "Come Again" (Poster 10)

• In Event: Nomadic Visual Inquiries: Explorations in Visual Methodologies Across Disciplines and Paradigms

Abstract

Purposes
This project examines user-uploaded pictures and reviews of three Asian grocery shops in [Masked City] on Google Maps. Through the images and written reviews posted by users during the COVID-19 pandemic, this project reveals [Masked City Members] experiences in the physical spaces that represent Asian cultures and diversity, as well as their reflections of their physical cross-cultural experiences in the virtual space.
Theoretical framework
The project followed the frameworks of linguistic landscape (LL). The sociolinguistic term, linguistic landscape (LL), has been defined as “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p. 23). LL functions as “an informational marker on one hand, and as a symbolic marker communicating the relative power and status of linguistic communities in a given territory” (Ben-Rafael et al., 2006, p. 8).
Methods
The qualitative research software, Atlas.ti, was used for data coding and analysis due to its versatility of analyzing visual and textual data. Throughout the process, I rematched images and users’ reviews by using Canva to create new images and GIFs. I selected the padlet map as the entering page for this project since it offers a geographical view of the city. Audiences can explore the project by clicking the pins on the padlet map. Each pin directs the audience to a different page. The experience can be different based on the self-chosen orders of viewers.
Results
Most users’ reviews and images demonstrated the diversity of the Asia continent in the written reviews and images. Diversity with the AAPI community is demonstrated from languages, foods, and decorations. Users had different experiences during the pandemic. Although all three stores had average ratings that were higher than 4.5 out of 5 stars, some users had negative experiences. During the pandemic, some users’ comments showed their bias against Asian cultures and the AAPI community. Throughout the coding and creating process, it is also salient that The overall dominance of East Asian products at the stores aligns with the larger East Asian dominance when discussing Asian cultures and representation.
Scholarly Significance
Due to technology development, the boundary between physical and virtual spaces blurred (Vásquez, 2017). This multimodal way of connecting and presenting (Rose, 2016) physical and virtual spaces demonstrated the possibility of “generating new, creative, non-linear forms of engagement an interaction between viewer, authors, and the material itself” (Favero, 2013, as cited in Rose, 2016 p. 349). The remakes of reviews and pictures also aim to illustrate the biases, discriminations, and embrace that these Asian grocery stores received from the local customers during the pandemic. Meanwhile, diversity and dominance of East Asian languages and cultures within the AAPI community is also displayed through analysis and images.

Author

• Yixuan Wang, University of Georgia