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Making Sense of Space
The Design and Experience of Virtual Spaces as a Tool for Communication
1st Edition - April 18, 2014
Authors: Iryna Kuksa, Mark Childs
Language: English
eBook ISBN:9781780634067
9 7 8 - 1 - 7 8 0 6 3 - 4 0 6 - 7
The use of Virtual Worlds (VWs) has increased in the last decade. VWs are used for communication, education, community building, creative arts, and more. A good deal of research…Read more
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The use of Virtual Worlds (VWs) has increased in the last decade. VWs are used for communication, education, community building, creative arts, and more. A good deal of research has been conducted into learning and VWs, but other areas remain ripe for investigation. Factors from technological platforms to the nature and conventions of the communities that use VWs must be considered, in order to achieve the best possible interaction between virtual spaces and their users. <I>Making Sense of Space</I> focuses on the background to these issues, describing a range of case studies conducted by the authors. The book investigates the innovative and creative ways designers employ VWs for research, performance-making, and audience engagement. Secondly, it looks into how educators use these spaces to support their teaching practice. Lastly, the book examines the potential of VWs as new methods of communication, and the ways they are changing our perception of reality. This book is structured into four chapters. An introduction provides a history and outline of important themes for VWs, and subsequent chapters consider the design of virtual spaces, experience of virtual spaces, and communication in virtual spaces.
Written by two experienced academics and practitioners in the field, offering different perspectives
Uses a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on: education; scenography; performance studies; disaster management; and computer science
Provides multiple viewpoints on the topic, gained through interviews and contributions from a range of experts, as well as several co-authored chapters
Lecturers teaching in any discipline who plan to use virtual worlds as a space for learning activities; e-learning practitioners; developers of virtual worlds needing to gain a user perspective on their work; and students.
List of figures
Acknowledgements
About the authors
Introduction
Part 1: Spaces, presence, realities …
Chapter 1: Remediating technology, translating experience, immersing in spaces
Abstract:
A history of virtual spaces and definitions of basic terms
Spaces in virtual and augmented reality: an explanation of the concept of telepresence and mixed reality
Cultural use of cyberspace – paradigms of digital reality
Remediation and translation: the different theoretical approaches adopted in this book
Chapter 3: Art, history and culture in digital spaces
Abstract:
Chapter 4: Theatre in the virtual day and age
Abstract:
Conclusion
Note
Part 3: Experiencing virtual spaces
Chapter 5: Two models to conceptualize space
Abstract:
Living in virtual spaces
The experience of spatiality
Emotional agency in virtual spaces
The engagement of belief
To Activity Theory and beyond
Chapter 6: Other spaces, and other ways of making sense of them
Abstract:
Entering into a world of make-believe
Neither here nor there – the state of metaxis
Passing between: crossing the threshold between realities
More spin on the concept: the dichotomy between apparent and actual intent
Chapter 7: First, second, third and fourth places – making extra sense of space
Abstract:
Chapter 8: Virtual worlds in education
Abstract:
The status of virtual worlds c. 2010
Conclusion
Part 4: Making sense of space – the practitioner perspective
Chapter 9: Moving towards the alien ‘other’ …
Abstract:
Conclusion
Part 5: Conclusion
Chapter 10: The future of spaces – physical or virtual?
Abstract:
Digital to virtual: is cyberspace a space?
Moving from physical to virtual: losses and gains
Psychological and perceptual immersion in physical, virtual and augmented realities
Learning in virtual worlds
Communicating history in virtual worlds
Communicating performance in virtual worlds
Is the future ‘phyrtual’?
Glossary
References
Index
No. of pages: 206
Language: English
Edition: 1
Published: April 18, 2014
Imprint: Chandos Publishing
eBook ISBN: 9781780634067
IK
Iryna Kuksa
Dr Iryna Kuksa holds a permanent Senior Research Fellowship in art and design at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Educated at Oxford, LSE and Warwick, she has extensive research expertise in industrial design, digital and social media, and digital humanities. Her influential book Making Sense of Space: The Design and Experience of Virtual Spaces as a Tool for Communication (Chandos, 2014) redefined the use of digital spaces for communication and creative practice. Her innovative approach to understanding the role of design in social media and consumer culture, led to the launch of a new research field of design for personalisation (Design for Personalisation, Routledge, 2017). Iryna’s research on 3D visualisation and digital design as a tool for education has been recognised by the prestigious award of Harry Ransom Fellowship. Her 3D reconstruction of 1921 Norman Bel Geddes’ set design for Dante’s The Divine Comedy has been part of the first exhibition of Bel Geddes’ industrial and theatre designs ‘I Have Seen The Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America’ in Austin, USA. In 2019-2020, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and acts as a guest reviewer for the Master in Design Engineering program. Iryna leads a major ECR development initiative; co-leads the Design Research Centre and is a Board member of the Creative and Virtual Technologies Lab at NTU. In 2021, she was elected to the National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence Online College of Peer Reviewers.
Affiliations and expertise
Nottingham School of Art and Design, Nottingham Trent University, UK
MC
Mark Childs
Mark Childs is a Senior Research Fellow at Coventry University, UK, where he develops and researches online synchronous learning experiences and virtual collaborations, with 15 years experience in this field and work on over 30 educational technology projects. He holds a PhD on learners’ experience of presence in virtual worlds, and his research interests include virtual collaboration; digital identity; embodiment; and telepresence. Mark also works as an independent educational consultant, conducting evaluation and writing on behalf of funding agencies, universities, private sector technology companies, and museums.