Micro assignment 1: Creating the third space

For this project, we were told to photograph a place that held significant to us in ADM and hence I interpreted it as a place that means the most to me and my favourite places. Below are my photos for this project, posted on instagram.

Why did you choose this space or object to photograph?

I chose to photograph the sunken plaza in ADM as it held memories from orientation when I first started as a freshman, and the place that my orientation group bonded at reminds me of the apprehension, fear and excitement when I first joined the school. This place brings back nostalgia and also reminding me of why I chose to join ADM in the first place, helping me find myself in times of uncertainty.

By posting this online on our social media accounts and by tagging the hashtag in our posts, we have created another virtual space that allows like-minded people to communicate in such space.

What are some of the characteristics of this alternative virtual space you had created collectively?

By posting pictures of the places / objects that have significance to each and everyone of us on instagram, we create a virtual space online, we have created an inclusive space that allows us to share our own experiences as well as learn about others’.

This alternative virtual space is also a public space where any user, including users that do not own instagram accounts. By posting these pictures online, these pictures are released onto the internet, where access is granted to everybody who can access the internet. However, at the same time, the created space is also an exclusive space, one that is only accessible if the user knows the hashtag #1010adm. These 2 characteristics are hence somewhat paradoxical, making the space accessible to only an exclusive bunch of the public, if the public knows about the hashtag through a friend’s post or comment, or if the public accidentally stumble upon such hashtag.

Under what circumstance will this alternative virtual space change?

This alternative virtual space will change, when people change it. Since this space is created by people, the space is susceptible to change when people change the types of photos they post on this account, or change the people that know about this particular space. This virtual space is also bound to change if the system on instagram changes, such as when instagram changes its algorithm.

How does this project relate to what we discussed in the lecture regarding co-creation, the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY), Do-It-With-Others (DIWO)?

This project allowed us to build a virtual space on a social media platform, compiling all of our favourite and most meaningful places in our school. This virtual space is co-created by us, as this space can only exist if all of us contribute to the hashtag.

This project tags on the concept of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) in the sense that we partake in our own individual efforts to find places that hold meaning to us and to photograph these places, creating content for the hashtag. It is also DIY in the sense that we can interpret the given prompt anyway we want as individuals and create content based on our interpretations that may or may not differ from others sharing in the same virtual space.

At the same time, it also tags on the concept of Do-It-With-Others (DIWO) as the space was created on a social media platform. This allows our creations / posts to be seen by our followers and hence encourage discussion through the use of the comments section under each photo. This discussion will then generate more ideas and people with differing thoughts can interact and learn from one another.