A Seeing Place – Connecting Physical and Virtual Spaces
Doctoral thesis, 2020
The basic concepts of the thesis are Space, Place, and Stage. The central idea is that the stage is a strong conceptual metaphor that has the capacity to work as a unifying concept relating physical and virtual spaces and forming a place for attention, agreements, and experience – A Seeing Place. The concept of seeing place comes from the Greek word theatre, meaning a “place for seeing”, both in the sense of looking at and understanding.
In certain situations, the relations between physical and virtual spaces become important for users’ experience and understanding of these situations. This thesis presents seven cases of physical-virtual spaces, in the field of architectural and exhibition design. The method of these studies is research by design. The discussion then focuses on how each setting works as a stage, and how conceptual metaphors can contribute to the connection between physical and virtual spaces.
Building upon the explorations and experiments in different domains, the thesis contains a collection of seven papers concerning the relations between physical and virtual space in different contexts outside the world of theatre. These papers range from more technical about Virtual Reality (design of networked collaborative spaces) to more conceptual about staging (methods in interaction design) and virtual space (using a transdisciplinary approach).
The results of those studies suggest that the Stage metaphor of a physical-virtual space can contribute to the elucidating of relations between physical and virtual spaces in number of ways. Conceptually, the stage metaphor links together the semiotic and the hermeneutic views of space and place. And, from a practice-based perspective, A Seeing Place view opens up the way to creating contemporary spaces and resolving the physical-virtual divide.
stage
VR
theatre
Virtual Space
virtual reality
place
physical space
Author
Josef Wideström
Chalmers, Computer Science and Engineering (Chalmers), Interaction design
The Collaborative Cube Puzzle: A Comparison of Virtual and Real Environments
The 3rd Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVE), San Francisco, USA, September 10-12,;(2000)
Paper in proceeding
The Pelvis as Physical Centre in Virtual Environments
Presence 2000,;Vol. 1(2000)p. 1-2
Paper in proceeding
Immersiveness and Symmetry in Copresent Scenarios
Proceeding of IEEE VR2005,;(2005)p. 171-178
Journal article
Staging the Interaction – Explorative Interventions for Engaging Citizens in the Development of Public Knowledge Institutions
Proceedings of Design Research Society's Conference 2014,;(2014)
Paper in proceeding
The Virtual Culture House – Shaping the Identity of a Public Knowledge Institution
http://thevalueofdesignresearch.com/,;(2015)
Paper in proceeding
The transdisciplinary nature of virtual space
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics),;Vol. 11613 LNCS(2019)p. 186-202
Paper in proceeding
Designing for Science Center Exhibitions - A Classification Framework for the Interaction.
International Design Conference,;Vol. 1(2020)p. 1657-1666
Paper in proceeding
Areas of Advance
Information and Communication Technology
Subject Categories
Computer and Information Science
ISBN
978-91-7905-316-1
Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 4783
Publisher
Chalmers
Jupiter 473, Lindholmen (only for mandatory participants)
Opponent: Jonathan Westin, Associate Professor, Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Gothenburg