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Articles Conference Reviews |
2009B6KarcherSession B6: Metaphoric Space, Cyberspace, and Work Space Doug Walls, Scott Schopieray, and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss (Michigan State University), Tina Bacci (University of Rhode Island), Kennie Rose (University of Louisville) What was interesting about the first presentation on the panel, “Hacking Spaces: Place as Interface,” was that it took the concept of hacking, something I associate cyberspace, and reclaimed it to talk physical learning spaces. Presenting as a group, Douglas Walls, Scott Schopieray and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, all hailing from Michigan State University, claim that many of our learning spaces, and in particular our computer classrooms, are designed give power to the instructor and are “tyranny of tables and 90 degree angles.” They argue that learning spaces should instead be flexible, and should support social and collaborative work. The presenters then reclaimed the term ‘hacking’ to reflect it’s original meaning: a set of processes for learning about computers by hands on practice, and a deliberate community-oriented act against information and expertise hording. Using the term in this way, Walls, Schopieray, and DeVoss offered some practical suggestions about how to ‘hack’ these learning spaces both at an institutional and a classroom level: in terms of the university by presenting university administrators with sophisticated arguments for space design; and in terms of individual classrooms by hacking practical problems to understand them rather than resist them, and to make them part of your pedagogy. Tina Bacci from the University of Rhode Island gave a paper entitled “Writing-a-go-go: Ubiquitous Computing and the Thirdspace of Workplace Writing.” Bacci’s project was to take theories examining the impact of geographical space on writing practices, in particular the work of Nedra Reynolds, and to apply them to mobile workers, those business people who engage in office writing on-the-go. Bacci claims that these theories state that we draw upon the characteristics and practices of one place, and use them to influence how we behave in, and use, other places. Applying this principle to mobile workers, current research suggests that when the workers on-the-go call to mind the writing practices of the office, they will unconsciously emulate those same office writing practices. When Bacci examined transcripts of several business emails written on-the-go, however, she discovered that this was not the case. Instead these emails more often resemble those emails sent on social networking sites rather than those emails sent from the office. Like the second paper, the third paper also drew on the work of Nedra Reynolds as a starting point for a case study of a real space, in this case the space created in an online community. Kennie Rose from the University of Louisville gave a paper with the title “The Examined Life—Cyberspace Style: The Construction of Space in the #philosophy IRC Undernet Community.” According to Rose, Reynolds’ work does touch on space and digital communities, however there is room for work to be done, and this is where Rose situates his project. He uses Reynolds argument that any space, whether textual, real or imaginary, has clear boundaries, a set of cultural barriers and assumptions, and that this space is in flux. Rose then applied this theory to the IRC website, a site devoted synchronous Internet chat, and found that indeed this virtual community supported Reynolds theory. The question Rose left us with, and one he himself wants to pursue, is this: is the IRC site a unique case in that it supports Reynolds’ theory, or is Reynolds theory true for all online communities? |