Fitting yourself into a box to please the bureaucracy gods

How much do you think about the name fields on application forms? Probably not much, if you’re from an Anglo background. For everyone else, it’s a constant battle between having their name – their identity, their self, their culture – recognised, and filling out a form ‘correctly’ in order to get a bank account or rental property.

Pang Khee Teik – that’s family name Pang, given names Khee Teik – has created an interactive fiction piece in which you help him navigate university bureaucracy to get his name printed properly on his degree certificate. It’s funny, absurd and surprisingly touching – and takes less than a minute. Please give it a go.

I originally saw it on twitter, where one commenter said:

this is beautifully and amazingly done. it made me realise how ive just... accepted writing my name out of order for years. i miss the original order of my name. i miss my name.