Hacking Spaces: Place as Interface

In this article, we analyze the complex rationales—both transparent to us and, at times, made visible—underneath the instructional spaces in which we work and teach. To do so, we first situate space analysis in the larger, national conversations about instructional spaces and then through the work of computers and writing scholars. We conclude with an analysis of instructional spaces at our institution. These are spaces specific to our locale, but spaces we think are quite common at most institutions of higher education. Perhaps more importantly, we situate this space analysis on issues these spaces pose—issues of restricted movement, impaired ability to collaborate, sensory disruption, limited leadership ability, and functional/material constraints. We attempt to return to the roots of hacking and to situate hacking as a particular tool for negotiating and, at times, disrupting the assumptions built under, within, and across instructional spaces.