Acknowledgments

Foreword by William Mitchell

Envisioning Cyberspace

Introduction

Provides an overview of the book’s main theme: how cyberspace can work in a way that is native to ways we think and live with space. Discusses cyberspace as a cultural phenomenon and a point of convergence for many disciplines.

Toward a Model for Anthropic Cyberspace

Describes an anthropic model for cyberspace based on proven human principles of spatialization. Proposes a multidimensional, spatial environment intended for human communication.

How We Create Space Internally to Understand Our World

Space as a Medium for Understanding Our Environment and Relationships

Describes the internal nature of spatial thought. Shows how we use space cognitively and perceptually to relate to external objects and function as social beings.

Spatial Models That Help Us Think

Presents how we use our spatial environment to help us think. Includes a discussion of historical methods of spatializing memory, e.g., the memory palaces. Discusses the roles that combined imagined and perceived spaces play in our development and identity.

The Scale of Abstraction

Develops a scale of human artifacts ranging from the most abstract to the most concrete, showing their capacity for bearing information beyond their physical presence. Shows how distinctions between real and virtual are not as useful as those between perception/cognition or concrete/ abstract. Describes artifacts of electronic media and cyberspace and their dependence on spatial reference.

Body Extensions in Space

Discusses how we use our bodies to mediate between our internal states and our environment. Describes this extension of the self through physical presence and non-physical zones that attend the body. Shows how preconceptions of the body in physical space are thwarted by cyberspace and begins discussion on intrinsic differences between physical and mediated experience.

Extending Spatial Concepts to Cyberspace

Navigating Cyberspace

Describes how presence and motion in electronic spaces differ from those we experience in the physical world. Looks at different models of cyberspace to compare their interpretations of movement and, implicitly, identity. Introduces concepts of dynamic and categoric motion. Presents examples from a case study to illustrate issues.

Special Issues in Designing Cyberspace

Describes issues surrounding the design of cyberspaces: representation, methods of planning, multi-modal communication, levels of abstraction, gesture and scale. Presents disciplinary models for the emerging prac-tice of cyberspace design.

Reprise: The Scale of Abstraction Extended to Cyberspace

A presentation of different kinds of cyberspaces according to scale of abstraction. Discusses cyberspaces’ design and their capacity for embodying information. Concludes discussion of individual space and introduces the space of social interaction.

Extending Social Space to Cyberspace

Territories of the Mind

Presents multi-user environments as reflecting conventional, human behavior. Discusses privacy, power and territory manifested in MUDs and their political implications.

The Swift and Brutal Society of Gaming

Describes computer games as social environments and their underlying psychological and social principles. Delineates characteristics of social space in computer games and multi-user environments.

MUDs: Cyberspace Communities

Discussion of text-based and graphic multi-user domains. Chapter describes social structure of MUDs, role of the citizen/builder in a community, the mediation of computer and its users through avatars and agents.

MUD Spatial Structure

Introduces logical adjacency models (LAMs) outlining the cognitive structure of on-line social space. Presents spatial anomalies in MUDs as important breaks in the spatial reference of domains. Describes the development of on-line communities through circulation and motion.

Merging Physical and Mediated Realities

Describes cyberspace technology as bridging cognitive and perceived space through mediation. Presents collaboratories and work environments that incorporate physical and cyberspaces. Discusses the human and social issues that attend them.

Reconciling Physical and Cyberspaces

Bridging Spaces - Transcending Disciplines

Presents work of artists and researchers that brings together material and electronic space. Discusses systems of surveillance, augmented reality and their social implications.

Cybrids: Hybrids of Physical and Cyberspaces

Introduces hybrids that partake of physical and mediated space in the construction of the built environment. Presents hypothetical scenario and implications for culture and environment.

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index