Antounian !

Karla Antounian

Dr. Santosh Khadka

English 113B

3 March 2020

The Type of Spaces That Revolve Around Our Daily Places

Have you ever entered a library before or have created a profile account with

Facebook? When using these spaces would you consider them to be private or public

space? The library can be used for many reasons. A library offers great accessibility and

resources to its visitors, and it is a great place to meet new people. As for Facebook, it is

also a great way to keep in communication with relatives as well as to post daily

highlights. Although the libraries and Facebook have limited access to certain things such

as the accessibility of when to enter a library or being able to make a Facebook profile

seemingly private, these two spaces both serve as public spaces, yet they fail to qualify as

a third space.

Many have considered the library to be a public space due to the different

types of accessibility it provides for individuals. A public space is also considered a

public sphere. In his article, “Sporting Safe in the Liminal Sphere: ‘Tactics’ and

Facebook” Dr. Santosh Khadka, Associate Professor of English at California State

University, Northridge discusses the concept of public spheres. Dr. Khadka explains,

“According to Jurgen Habermas (1991), the propounder of the concept, public sphere

was: the sphere of private people come together as a public; they soon claimed the public

sphere regulated from above against the public authorities themselves, to engage them in
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a debate over the general rules governing relations in the basically privatized but publicly

relevant sphere of commod - ity exchange and social labor” (Khadka 207). A public space

is opened to the public and there are not any restrictions on an individual when entering

the atmosphere. When entering the library specifically a college university library it is

considered to a public since the library has wifi, books, bathrooms, and other

accessibility. Recently I conducted interviews to gather data that would reveal how the

public views a library as a space and in their opinion their response was “I mean if there

is a membership it’s private but if there isn’t then it’s public” (Shant Nazarian).

Depending on which library the individual decides to visit depends if it is considered a

public space, but the majority of the libraries on this planet do not require a membership

unless it is a college campus library. Even then there are some college libraries that allow

students who do not attend that college to enter that campus library. Libraries are made

for people with not as much access to Wifi, books, a space to socialize or to do

homework, which is why its public sphere is open to those who are in need of a

environment that is not there normal day to day space such as their homes or work.

Like a library, Facebook qualifies as a public sphere, it can be used for business,

entertainment, to communicate with relatives, as a source for news, and a site

for users to post daily highlights. Even though Facebook claims to offer privacy to its

users by allowing individuals to set their profile settings to private; however, the

application fails to guarantee privacy to the public. A lot of our pictures and information

is owned by Facebook once posted and can be searched by any individual just by going

on google and searching the individuals name. Also stated in Dr.Khadka’s article, “The
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privacy is a risk also because of Facebook’s recently introduced privacy policy, which

makes most of our users profile information publicly available” (Khadka 210). It's been

easier to access users information just by searching their name, I would be able to find

pictures, what they have posted, what their favorite book may be, the games they play on

Facebook, and everything else. In another research interview, I asked Erik Abramyan “If

they thought that Facebook was a public space?” and his response was “Yes I do... People

are just open about their life and they share like every moment that like they experience

or their highlights publicly” (Erik Abramyan). As a society, we attempt to make our

profile as private as we can, there is always information that is being spread to the world.

Once an individual has created a Facebook profile there information is being owned by

Facebook, which means that if anyone with authority would want that information they

would be able to obtain it.

While both libraries and Facebook serve as public spheres, neither space qualifies

as a third space. A third space is defined in many different ways but as for Ray Oldenburg

he defines it as, “In the absence of informal public life, living becomes more expensive.

Where the means and facilities for relaxation and leisure are not publicly shared, they

become the objects of private ownership and consumption (Oldenburg 2).” In order to

qualify a location as a third space there are eight characteristics that spaces need to pass

in order to be qualified as a third space. Some of the characteristics that Facebook does

offer are, “Conversation, accessibility and accommodation, regulars, low profile, and

playful mood” (Oldenburg paragraph 2). which is only five out of the eight. As for

libraries, “Neutral ground, conversation, regulars, low profile, playful mood, and home
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away from home” (Oldenburg 2).which is only six out of the eight. Even though they

both have the majority of characteristics it is not all of the eight characteristics needed to

be titled as third space.On the surface, a library can be perceived as a third space;

however, since this space fails to offer full accessibility and conversation, it does not

meet the criteria of a third space. These characteristics were given to us by Ray

Oldenburg, which he then defines each characteristics and gives examples. The library is

known to be a place that can be seen as any time access but in reality the majority of the

libraries are open for a certain time. Due to not having the majority of the characteristics

they are classified as not a third space.

The Library and Facebook both have different characteristics just like them

having different amounts of accessibility, whos around you, and what that individual

might be doing in that space. When searching Facebook and logging into your account

the individual can be looking at the news, family picture, playing games, or posting about

their daily life; however as a society we have complete control of when being able to use

facebook day or night. As for the Library, yes it is open to the public but does open and

close during a special time and it is not always accessible to the public. As it may seem as

the library and Facebook can be a third space but it actually isn't due to not having all the

eight characteristics. Every space has its own characteristics, but with those features it

shows if it has the characteristic of being a third space, public or private sphere. These

public spaces can be used throughout individuals lives without even realizing. If we did

not have Facebook we wouldn’t be able to communicate with relatives, post our daily

highlights, or grow a business. Facebook is a connection to different opportunities, but it

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does not provide the privacy we need. As for a library, if we did not have the opportunity

to have a library, student, professors, or anyone wouldn’t have access to the internet,

computers, printing, a location to complete any work that needs to be done. Without these

two useful spaces, many of us wouldn't have any other access place to go and get help

from.
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Work Cited

Abramian , Erik, and Karla Antounian. “Facebook.” Feb. 2020.

Khadka , Santosh. “Sporting Safe in the Liminal Sphere: ‘Tactics’ and Facebook.”

Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Society: Practices Integrating Social

Media and Globalization, by Marohang Limbu and Binod Gurung, Information Science

Reference, 2014, pp. 206–216.

Nazarian , Shant. “The Library .” Feb. 2020.

Oldenburg , Ray. “Ray Oldenburg.” RSS, www.pps.org/article/roldenburg.