A Breakthrough

Coupled with a few counseling sessions and a lot of self-reflection, this week I finally had a breakthrough. I sat through a group consultation with Jun Liang, Jun, and Andreas for our practical project. While watching them present their work to Andreas, and observing Andreas trying his best to guide them in refining their work and planning for their presentations, I found myself asking, "If they can try their best to convey and communicate their projects, why can't I?" I realised I had spent so much time avoiding my project that I ended up completely changing it.

Andreas advised me to stop trying to write my dissertation or work on any making for the time being, and instead, just focus on creating a simple mind map or diagram for clarity. Jun Liang also told me that I need to convince myself to work on my project before I can convince others.

This was the quote: “When I think of performance, I think of [the American philosopher] Judith Butler’s idea that all of us, our authentic selves, might not really exist in a singularity, but might exist in a sort of mosaic of performances that we are always performing. We have a version of ourselves we express to our family, our friends, our audience, our publisher, our parents, and then a version of ourselves that we perform when we’re alone.” (Ocean Vuong)

I think I tend to change myself a lot to fit into my perceived idea of what society will prefer, and I think it's not bad, but it helps me put things into perspective for the work that I'm doing for grad project.

As what Andreas mentioned above, I started out with a mindmap or diagram to kinda plot out what I wish to convey in my project, but I eventually wrote all the points I have been wanting to convey, in one night. I finally felt like I saw the light lol. These pointers forms the foundation of my web project, why I'm creating a website, alongside with other curation of websites that I collected after that. Here's my poetic web research/collection on are.na. I wish to continue this curation beyond this design research, as it fascinates me a lot.

Towards a Poetic Web is an essay explaining the idea and philosophy that guides my design research project. Websites as we know them emerged from Tim Berners-Lee’s vision of an open, interconnected digital space. Initially a tool for academic collaboration, the internet evolved into the dominant communication platform of today. However, its early promise of creativity and self-expression has been overshadowed by corporate-driven design, prioritising efficiency and monetisation over individuality. In response, this dissertation explores the concept of the "poetic web", inspired by internet artist Chia Amisola. It seeks to reimagine websites as spaces for personal expression, creativity, and human connection.

The Poetic Web is a vision of the internet that prioritises creativity, individuality, and emotional connection over efficiency and standardisation. Inspired by internet artist Chia Amisola, it challenges the dominance of corporate-driven web design, advocating for digital spaces that feel personal, expressive, and dynamic. Closely linked to J.R. Carpenter’s Handmade Web, which embraces manually coded, unique websites, the Poetic Web draws from the early internet’s spirit of experimentation and self-expression. Olia Lialina’s A Vernacular Web and Laurel Schwulst’s reflections on websites as evolving, living spaces further reinforce this idea. The Poetic Web also aligns with Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the third space, positioning websites as digital environments for creativity, conversation, and human connection beyond work and home. By reclaiming the internet from corporate control, it invites us to see websites not just as functional tools but as places for imagination, reflection, and meaning.

Direction and Deliverable

With more clarity and understanding of my research project, I want to create a website that encapsulates the idea of a digital third space; a poetic web, as part of this poetic web research that my outcome anchors on. Some of the main key factors that constitutes to this space, is definitely the idea of a shared space for multiple people to play, similar to my semester one's website interaction, where users are able to create words and drag words around to collaboratively form words and poems together. (Though that function is not available for now.)