Making Sense of Space

Making Sense of Space

by Iryna Kuksa, Mark Childs
Released June 2014
Publisher(s): Chandos Publishing
ISBN: 9781780634067

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Book description

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. Making Sense of Space 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

Table of contents

  1. Cover image
  2. Title page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Copyright
  5. List of figures
  6. Acknowledgements
  7. About the authors
  8. Introduction
  9. Part 1: Spaces, presence, realities …
    1. Chapter 1: Remediating technology, translating experience, immersing in spaces
      1. Abstract:
      2. A history of virtual spaces and definitions of basic terms
      3. Spaces in virtual and augmented reality: an explanation of the concept of telepresence and mixed reality
      4. Cultural use of cyberspace – paradigms of digital reality
      5. Remediation and translation: the different theoretical approaches adopted in this book
      6. Conclusion
  10. Part 2: Creating virtual spaces
    1. Chapter 2: Virtual spaces – ‘work-in-progress’: software, devices and design principles
      1. Abstract:
    2. Chapter 3: Art, history and culture in digital spaces
      1. Abstract:
    3. Chapter 4: Theatre in the virtual day and age
      1. Abstract:
      2. Conclusion
      3. Note
  11. Part 3: Experiencing virtual spaces
    1. Chapter 5: Two models to conceptualize space
      1. Abstract:
      2. Living in virtual spaces
      3. The experience of spatiality
      4. Emotional agency in virtual spaces
      5. The engagement of belief
      6. To Activity Theory and beyond
    2. Chapter 6: Other spaces, and other ways of making sense of them
      1. Abstract:
      2. Entering into a world of make-believe
      3. Neither here nor there – the state of metaxis
      4. Passing between: crossing the threshold between realities
      5. More spin on the concept: the dichotomy between apparent and actual intent
    3. Chapter 7: First, second, third and fourth places – making extra sense of space
      1. Abstract:
    4. Chapter 8: Virtual worlds in education
      1. Abstract:
      2. The status of virtual worlds c. 2010
      3. Conclusion
  12. Part 4: Making sense of space – the practitioner perspective
    1. Chapter 9: Moving towards the alien ‘other’ …
      1. Abstract:
      2. Conclusion
  13. Part 5: Conclusion
    1. Chapter 10: The future of spaces – physical or virtual?
      1. Abstract:
      2. Digital to virtual: is cyberspace a space?
      3. Moving from physical to virtual: losses and gains
      4. Psychological and perceptual immersion in physical, virtual and augmented realities
      5. Learning in virtual worlds
      6. Communicating history in virtual worlds
      7. Communicating performance in virtual worlds
      8. Is the future ‘phyrtual’?
  14. Glossary
  15. References
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Making Sense of Space
  • Author(s): Iryna Kuksa, Mark Childs
  • Release date: June 2014
  • Publisher(s): Chandos Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781780634067