Oxford dictionary's word of the year for 2016 was "Post-truth". This year, "Fake News" became a culturally viral phrase. In class, my students fretted about the legitimacy of their sources. It seems the trust in scholarship has declined, but I don't like comparing history to present because the context can be misleading. Misleading juxtapositions, phrasings and presentations can lead to convoluted opinions that can have very real consequences in life. 

Through my work I've come to recognize that through dialogue, we can craft or at least manipulate our reality. Through attempting improved perception, we tend to act differently, perhaps better in many situations. Misleading material can impede this process and make it so easy for our audiences to maintain paranoia, extreme distrust and conspiracy rhetoric on their own corners of the internet. 

Prior to 2004 and the launch of Facebook, I would argue that we were mainly consumers of content. Only few of us created and even fewer created material to be consumed by the masses. Today, where there are endless platform options for creation, we have all become media makers. But very few makers create with their audience and after effects in mind. It feels irresponsible to know we can endlessly push content, but take little pride in its audience impact. It has gotten so bad, the culture surrounding content creation is distrustful. There is an entire website dedicated to locating and archiving shitty headlines from all over daily. It's scary to me how misleading we allow our content lure's to become all in hopes of a news rating that's profitable. It makes sense, but it breeds all these other fringe issues that largely affect the whole. 

This is clearly a super large can of worms, one I'll likely visit in a more professional manner. What I'm attempting to guide you towards (my dear few readers), is the idea that as we move forward in our own careers, whether directly involved in profitable or for-fun content creation, we must maintain a responsibility for the things we create. 

I don't mean giving up on being recklessly artistic (go for it, go crazy, get all the bio-degradable glitter out) I just mean, if you're out there as an English or communications major, any journalists or young writers or musicians or artists, whatever it may be: Be Responsible. Think of the impact you have on your audiences. Remind yourself, if you're vegan, vegetarian, a millennial, LGBTQ+ identified, there is something in your heart that burns for something better in this life. You all have an idea of what this ideal society is. Language, our content, all of it, matters to that outcome. Although you may feel small, responsibly creating things that better our lives is a commendable, honorable choice. Make articles that challenge misleading headline culture! Make art that forces people to address themselves! Make music that screams about these issues! Throw shade! And throw it well! 

I studied architecture in high school for 3 years and readily applied the concepts during my time as an art student. Although I ended up getting my degree in professional writing/rhetoric instead, I still carry over many of those theories in my work. As of late, I've decided that I'll continue my exploration of spatiality, the effect of space, what it implicates for purpose and how it binds the body to behavior. 

To create a more palpable relation to the academic space I'm working in, I'll be relating the ideas to classroom spaces and maybe even labs for collaboration and experimentation. We discussed making and makerspaces along with the "internet of things" and Between Bits and Atoms, a piece written by Jentery Sayers and others. 

Bits and Atoms addressed a number of ideas regarding physical computing and desktop fabrication - they discuss what all of these developments in making mean to the digital humanities. They touch on responsibly using materials, convival computing, and they point out the many uses that fabrication can bring to a number of disciplines. They put quite a bit of focus on what those technologies have done to their makerspaces. 

Makerspaces are exactly what they sound like. A space in which one makes. Since it's an action based title - the room must facilitate the variety of actions implied. Creating a space in which everyone can make and be actionable is really challenging. Most classrooms and lab spaces confine the students to structures that sort of inhibit the desired actions. I.e - the classroom where I hosts workshops, none of the tables can be moved and the chairs are wickedly diverse. Which leads to students getting frustrated when they can't form groups easily or turn and discuss things with a classmate. 

I find that very rarely do Universities, businesses or institutions take the time to design the spaces to encourage their desired outcomes. Technology has made these rooms even more complicated in many ways. Often time, people see different types of technology as black boxed wonder to solve all their problems in the classroom - but without addressing the technology from a spatial and adoption/adaption lens, the integration may be horribly unsuccessful. 

I suggest - after this sort of disorganized rambling - to think before we make spaces. I have no authority to change these patterns of design - but I think it's important to say on the record anyway. If we were to create spaces with their end goals in mind, or at least what they expect to be accomplished in that room, the making would improve.