What does the third space look like?

Dynamic and bold, creating movement

skills embedded in our skin

technology both binding and dividing

staring into a vortex

side by side

a kaleidoscope ....

tilted towards each other, reflecting

is it an implosion, illusion,

or creating new shorelines?

embedded in historical structures

our work writes history

grounded and creating space.

The following text from the Third Space Symposium was used as a prompt for three different Artificial Intelligent (AI) image generators. I used Lunapic.com to animate images and incorporated asemic writing as an antidote to the artificial intelligence and digital content. I recorded the sound of my pen scraping across the paper as I created the asemic writing and this forms that sound track for the video. The asemic writing was completed while I viewed the images and is a non-verbal way to respond to the created images.

The term ‘Third Space’1 describes people working across and between the boundaries of traditional academic and professional roles in tertiary education.

Who works in the Third Space?

Third Space Practitioners include learning designers, educational technologists, academic developers and many other people in roles with similar titles.2 Other people in the Third Space include workers in tertiary education who are developing the academic and language skills of students, research assistants and technicians, library staff and a wide array of other workers straddling these worlds.

While these roles have existed for more than 70 years, in many different forms, their value to their organisation and to the sector is often misunderstood, reducing these workers’ ability to effect meaningful change. Career progression, contracts and working conditions can be unstable or limited. The skills and knowledge that Third Space practitioners in professional roles bring may be questioned, and they are often blocked from contributing to research in their fields of expertise.

The Third Space Symposium and Slowposium aims to shine a light on the valuable contributions that Third Space practitioners make, examine the ways that we work together and consolidate practical actions to raise our impact and working conditions in tertiary education.

SHORT PROMPT

The term ‘Third Space’ describes people working across and between the boundaries of traditional academic and professional roles in tertiary education.

Create an image that represents the third space in this context. Image should be high definition, intense colour and modern design.

Create an image that represents the third space in this context. Image should be high definition, intense colour and modern design.

This is a submission for the Third Space Slowposium, 2024.