For this project, our group decided to use the Instagram group video call feature to create our short video. We decided to make use of the frame of the video chat, which was a rectangle divided into four sections, to create a virtual space. Each quadrant on screen is a ‘room’ and the whole video is a ‘building’. 

We thought of creating a story where four of us were kidnapped and trapped in these virtual spaces. We discover that we are ‘next’ to each other, and try to escape but the kidnapper comes to kill us one by one (represented by the screen blacking out). We wrote a script (here) as well but didn’t follow it in the end since we didn’t have much time to memorise it.

 

One of the hardest things was to figure out who was in which quadrant so we could ‘respond’ to each other. It was pretty confusing as the layout on each person’s phone was different, since the app puts the user’s video in the first quadrant by default. Also, when someone left the chat and reentered, it changed the layout as well.

There were quite a few unexpected mishaps as well – I forgot to turn off my notifications and so when I was screen-recording the video, it recorded the chat notifications coming in as well. The touch-assist icon also became part of the interface. Also the video we recorded had no sound in the end so we had to narrate it live while we played the video in class (oops). I guess if we had more time to redo it, it could be improved upon!

Here is the final video:

 

| Which project did you feel you had the most creative control? Why?

I feel that I had the most creative control with Micro-Project 3. It’s mostly because I think I could control the content of the work the most in this project. While I did co-create it with 4 other people, it was a very small number of creators and so I had more say in terms of what went into the work.

In comparison, for Micro-Project 1, while I had autonomy over the photo I took, I feel like I was more of a participant in someone else’s project, as the concept for it (a unique area within ADM) was not mine. So in that sense the content that I could put out was already restricted by somebody.  And for Micro-Project 2, we only determined the start of the story and how it was to be continued was completely decided everyone else. I think I had the least control over that since we were not determining the content of the work.

| Which project had the most unpredictable outcome? Why?

I think Micro-Project 2 had the most unpredictable outcome. We could not control what the participants wrote or did on the Google doc, and the possibilities were limitless. They could have edited others’ sentences, deviated from the story completely or deleted certain sentences and so on. This project had the least perimeters defined, as compared to Micro-Project 1 that defined the type of medium and content (photo of a place in ADM) its co-creators could contribute. Micr0-Project 3 only involved the 5 of us, and we planned the work, executing it accordingly with no outside intervention, hence this project had the most predictable outcome.

| Which project best illustrates the concepts of DIWO & Open–Source? Why?

I feel that Micro-Project 2 best illustrates these two concepts. This project is crowd-sourced, as it allows anyone with access to Google Docs to come online and make changes to the document, either by adding to it, editing it or even shortening it. The various functions to change the appearance of the text also add to the possibilities of the work. In addition, there are little restrictions as to what content the participants contribute, which allows them greater creative freedom, and to draw more liberally from their own perspectives and experiences. Hence I think this project best reflects the characteristics of DIWO and Open-Source – openness, accessibility and unpredictability. In comparison, Micro-Project 1 has clearly defined perimeters for the kind of content, and is more exclusive as only people with Instagram accounts can access the hashtag, while Micro-Project 3 only involves the 5 of us as creators.

Furthermore, the nature of the Google Docs platform creates a system where many actions from different people can be carried out simultaneously, and this forms opportunities for interaction between participants, and for us, the makers, to see things happen, all in real time. Similar to the Telegarden, I feel that this allows the participants to feel like they are actively contributing and also seeing the work evolve, giving them a greater sense of ownership and thus emphasising the idea that they are co-creators. They are given autonomy to create, which reflects the ideas of DIWO and Open-Source. In comparison, Micro-Project 1 and 3 lack this real-time and sense of interactivity as the former is more about individualistic contribution, while the latter only involves 5 people as creators.