Section 2: The Space of Media Space

We began our study of media space with the social aspects of mediated communication because many in the computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) realm are familiar with models, theories, frameworks, issues, and design approaches related to sociality. But the first media space research came from another set of traditions — the ordering of space and the making of place. Formally, these are the professional and intellectual provinces of architecture, which are probably remote from the disciplinary backgrounds of most readers. However, remoteness in terms of rhetoric and training does not prevent proximity to everyday human experience. The meaning of media space with respect to human experience is the focus of the articles in this section. The spaces are designed to have meaning, and the meaning of the design derives from spatial experience.

The notion of “space” is half of “media space.” What does it mean to think of media space as fundamentally “a space”? What is a space anyway? The chapters in this section all proceed from the idea that space has metaphoric power and power as a metaphor. In addition, they consider a number of spatial conceits: (1) that the presence of media in physical space alters and extends the space it is in, (2) that the means of understanding experience in space is through the screen and out of the speaker, (3) that place can be constructed in mediated space as well as physical space, and (4) that the affordances of space and place are significant elements in the construction of sociality and of interpersonal communications. No single chapter tackles all these issues; in fact, none tackles any one of them as a single independent theme. Instead, they draw upon elements of these themes in a networked fashion.