my work desk

What does your work desk look like right now?

Is it messy or neat?Can you visualise it if you close your eyes?

Reach out for where you left your mouse, your

pen, where is your mug?

Does your desk look like this?

Or this?

Or more like this?

What does it say about you?

Is your desk set up for you, or for other

observers?

Who might these others be?

Is your work desk different from your desk at home?

Photo sharing websites such as Flickr host

thousands of images people have taken on their

work desks.

A search for “my work desk” generates 33,298

results…

6,516 are made available to others under Creative

Commons licenses

Many were excluded from the terms of this project because they contained images of people or were only

very partial desk images

There are also 95 related groups for Flickr

users to join, such as “life at my desk”, “Desk Flair!”, “Hello. Meet my

desk”, “My desk drawer” and “MDYD – my desk, your desk”

In analysing those from Flickr in January 2009 alone,

the desk images display some styles and themes that are present more

widely.

Some look very neat

Some are homemade or modified

Others mark historical moments

Some have a clear design

And some are very plain or the result of testing new cameras

Why share this?

Many show off the number of screens – a marker of

importance in geek culture.

Six was the record in January

Some people approach their photographs with a

particular style in mind.

“Yet another long work day means I may as well take some pictures at work. I did a three exposure bracket merged to HDR,

then over toned mapped and desaturated. Played with tint and contrast a bit to try and get a Fallout 3 effect. Fallout 3 is currently my most favoritest game, consuming my little free time.” - Three if by Bike (Flickr

user) 

Why is this place so important to us?

Because we are spending more time at

work?Are we more flexible

about our identities at work?Is it generational?

The range of images and their treatments suggest there is no single answer,

that this place is important for many reasons.

Increasingly, we are spending significant

time and money modifying the visual aspect of even our

smallest possessions and places.

In addition to photos of actual desks, this idea has

been adopted by fans of the “12 things meme”.

Participants create grids of 12 images from freely available photos that

represent the items on their desks, rather than the actual items – creating idealised virtual desks.

What happens to the idea of your desk if you start changing the images around?

This interest in the visual aspect of our work desks crops up

in lots of other places…

there are magazine features on decorated cubicles,

WIRED MAGAZINE

competitions,

and books.

It seems that many people feel their desk is an

important place and a way of representing themselves.

They spend time constructing this

representation and share images of this place to

convey something about who they are.

After all that, you probably want to know

what’s on my desk, right?

Use your imagination!

Copyright Louise Greig 2009