Social Interactions In Computer Mediated Public Spaces

Place-making in public spaces is an important and worthy objective in the field of architecture. Sense of place is rooted in the dynamic interaction among people, space and activities. Hence, scholars observed human behaviors in successful public spaces and explored how the physical environment supports users' goals, expectations, activities and social interactions. Consequently, designers adopted the findings of these studies and created inhabitable public spaces in the urban area in which activities are diverse, social interactions are plentiful and sense of place is attached. What distinguishes public spaces from private spaces is the interaction partners. In public spaces, people interact with strangers whereas in private spaces, users participate in interpersonal behaviors with acquaintances. However, the ubiquitous use of digital media devices has blurred the line between public and private spaces. It modifies human behaviors and produces new genres of public spaces: the socializing private space and the privatizing public space. In the socializing private space, people participate in public activities and interact with strangers in social networking sites, online video games and news forums while the body is physically situated in private environments, e.g. home; whereas in privatizing public space, through digital media devices, users isolate themselves from other participants and build private zones to interact with acquaintances in physical public environments, such as local coffee shop and urban plazas. The juxtaposition of public and private life has challenged the existing theories of place-making in public spaces. Following the step of previous studies in social interactions and public spaces, this research adopts behavioral observations as the major methods to investigate current public spaces. Different types of computer-mediated public spaces were selected and examined. After careful investigations and analyses, the findings of this research pointed to two directions. On one hand, in the same type of computer-mediated public spaces, the ability to closely observe the interaction partners facilitates social interactions and enhances sense of place. If users are able to perceive more visual cues of appropriate behaviors, they experience better social interactions and attach sense of place to the environment. On the other hand, each type of computer-mediated public spaces is equipped with its social potentials and design problems. Although users somehow experience perception and interaction difficulties in the socializing private space due to the limited visibility to the interaction partners, the worldwide social pleasure, unexpectedness and exclusive activities associate the environment with sense of place. In the privatizing public spaces, people are able to directly sense, consciously understand, and automatically response each other; however, their ignorance of physical surrounding decreases sense of place. Therefore, by learning from different types of computer-mediated public spaces, the outcome of this research contributes to the design of both physical and virtual public spaces. It provides practical suggestions to the designs of information technologies as well as spatial designers. Furthermore, the analysis scheme and experimental process of this research extend the methodological approach for the future research of social interactions in public spaces.

A study of communication in the electronic environment known as cyberspace. It features essays on theoretical contexts, discussion and research on cybernetworks and cyberspaces, studies of new senses of space and navigation (cybernautics) and explorations of cybercommunication and cyberculture.

The integration of ubiquitous mobile computing resources into physical spaces can potentially affect the development, maintenance, and transformation of communities and social interactions and relations within a particular context or location. Ubiquitous mobile computing allows users to engage in activities in diverse physical locations, to access resources specific to the location, and to communicate directly or indirectly with others. Mobile technologies can potentially enhance social interactions and users' experiences, extend both social and informational resources available in context, and greatly alter the nature and quality of our interactions. Activities using mobile devices in context generate complex systems of interactions, and the benefits of ubiquity and mobility can be easily lost if that complexity is not appreciated and understood. This monograph attempts to address issues of using and designing location-based computing systems and the use of these tools to enhance social awareness, navigate in spaces, extend interactions, and influence others. Table of Contents: Introduction / Space, Place, and Context / Creating a Sense of Presence and Awareness with Mobile Tools / Mobile Computing: A Tool for Social Influence to Change Behavior / Ethical Issues and Final Thoughts

This edited collection brings together some leading exponents of CI around the world and critically evaluates their experiences.

Mediated communication between public spaces is a relatively new concept. One current example of this interaction is video conferencing among people within the same organization. Large scale video-conferencing walls have begun to appear in public or semi-public areas, such as workplace lobbies and kitchens. These connections provide a link via audio and/or video to another public space within the organization. When placed in public or semi-public work spaces, they are often designed for casual encounters among people within that community. Thus far, communicating via these systems has not met expectations. Some drawbacks to such systems have been lack of privacy, gaze ambiguity, spatial incongruity, and fear of appearing too social in a work environment. In this thesis we explore a different goal and approach to linking public spaces. We are not creating a substitute for face-to-face interaction, but rather new modes of conversational and physical interaction within this blended space. This is accomplished through the introduction of what we are defining as a social catalyst. We address the need for designs best suited for linking public spaces and present a series of design criteria for incorporating mediated communication between public and semi-public spaces.

Text-based interaction among humans connected via computer networks, such as takes place via email and in synchronous modes such as chat, MUDs and MOOs, has attracted considerable popular and scholarly attention. This collection of 14 articles on text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), is the first to bring empirical evidence from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to bear on questions raised by the new medium.The first section, linguistic perspectives, addresses the question of how CMC compares with speaking and writing, and describes its unique structural characteristics. Section two, on social and ethical perspectives, explores conflicts between the interests of groups and those of individual users, including issues of online sex and sexism. In the third section, cross-cultural perspectives, the advantages and risks of using CMC to communicate across cultures are examined in three studies involving users in East Asia, Mexico, and students of ethnically diverse backgrounds in remedial writing classes in the United States. The final section deals with the effects of CMC on group interaction: in a women s studies mailing list, a hierarchically-organized workplace, and a public protest on the Internet against corporate interests.

Mobile phones are no longer what they used to be. Not only can users connect to the Internet anywhere and anytime, they can also use their devices to map their precise geographic coordinates – and access location-specific information like restaurant reviews, historical information, and locations of other people nearby. The proliferation of location-aware mobile technologies calls for a new understanding of how we define public spaces, how we deal with locational privacy, and how networks of power are developed today. In Mobile Interfaces in Public Spaces, Adriana de Souza E. Silva and Jordan Frith examine these social and spatial changes by framing the development of location-aware technology within the context of other mobile and portable technologies such as the book, the Walkman, the iPod, and the mobile phone. These technologies work as interfaces to public spaces – that is, as symbolic systems that not only filter information but also reshape communication relationships and the environment in which social interaction takes place. Yet rather than detaching people from their surroundings, the authors suggest that location-aware technologies may ultimately strengthen our connections to locations.

This volume constitutes the revised selected papers of the First International Conference, ICCMSN 2008, held in Dunedin, New Zealand, in June 2009. The 19 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 34 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on virtual environments and second life; knowledge networks and learning in social networks; applications and integration of social networking systems as well as social concepts associated with social networking.

This is a uniquely friendly and easy-to-understand treatment of the complex theories and findings that surround CMC. Communication is often complicated, and computerization makes it stranger still, yet the authors have deftly demystified both the miraculous and the mundane of computer-mediated interaction.

The spread of mobile communication, most obtrusively as cell phones but increasingly in other wireless devices, is affecting people s lives and relationships to a previously unthought-of extent. Mobile phones, which are fast becoming ubiquitous, affect either directly or indirectly every aspect of our personal and professional lives. They have transformed social practices and changed the way we do business, yet surprisingly little serious academic work has been done on them. This book, with contributions from the foremost researchers in the field, will be the first study of the impact of the mobile phone on contemporary society from a social scientific perspective. Providing a comprehensive overview of mobile phones and social interaction, it comprises an introduction covering the key issues, a series of unique national studies and a final section examining specific issues.