Proxemics and the Architecture of Social Interaction


Book Description

Founded by anthropologist Edward T. Hall, proxemics developed amid cold war political tensions and social and civil unrest. Proxemics and the Architecture of Social Interaction presents selections from Hall's extensive archive of visual materials alongside a critical analysis that traces transformations in the fields of design and science.




Proxemic Interactions


Book Description

In the everyday world, much of what we do as social beings is dictated by how we perceive and manage our interpersonal space. This is called proxemics. At its simplest, people naturally correlate physical distance to social distance. We believe that people’s expectations of proxemics can be exploited in interaction design to mediate their interactions with devices (phones, tablets, computers, appliances, large displays) contained within a small ubiquitous computing ecology. Just as people expect increasing engagement and intimacy as they approach others, so should they naturally expect increasing connectivity and interaction possibilities as they bring themselves and their devices in close proximity to one another. This is called Proxemic Interactions. This book concerns the design of proxemic interactions within such future proxemic-aware ecologies. It imagines a world of devices that have fine-grained knowledge of nearby people and other devices—how they move into range, their precise distance, their identity, and even their orientation—and how such knowledge can be exploited to design interaction techniques. The first part of this book concerns theory. After introducing proxemics, we operationalize proxemics for ubicomp interaction via the Proxemic Interactions framework that designers can use to mediate people’s interactions with digital devices. The framework, in part, identifies five key dimensions of proxemic measures (distance, orientation, movement, identity, and location) to consider when designing proxemic-aware ubicomp systems. The second part of this book applies this theory to practice via three case studies of proxemic-aware systems that react continuously to people’s and devices’ proxemic relationships. The case studies explore the application of proxemics in small-space ubicomp ecologies by considering first person-to-device, then device-to-device, and finally person-to-person and device-to-device proxemic relationships. We also offer a critical perspective on proxemic interactions in the form of “dark patterns,” where knowledge of proxemics may (and likely will) be easily exploited to the detriment of the user. Table of Contents: Acknowledgments / Videos / Figure Credits / Introduction / Part I / Ubicomp in Brief / Proxemic Interactions Theory / Operationalizing Proxemics for Ubicomp Interaction / Exploiting Proxemics to Address Challenges in Ubicomp Ecologies / Part II: Exploiting Proxemics in Ubicomp Ecologies / Person/Person-to-Device Proxemic Interactions / Device-to-Device Proxemic Interactions / Considering Person-to-Person and Device-to-Device Proxemics / Dark Patterns / Conclusion / References / Author Biographies




Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space


Book Description

Domestic Architecture and the Use of Space investigates the relationship between the built environment and the organisation of space. The contributors are classical and prehistoric archaeologists, anthropologists and architects, who from their different backgrounds are able to provide some important and original insights into this relationship.




Language of Space


Book Description

* Helps to reconnect your everyday implicit knowledge with your professional conceptual knowledge * Gain a greater understanding of clients by questioning the values you commonly hold * Promotes easier communication by taking the abstract idea of 'space' and placing it in real terms




Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?


Book Description

How we experience space by listening: the concepts of aural architecture, with examples ranging from Gothic cathedrals to surround sound home theater. We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a room in the dark, and "hear" the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in a concert hall depends on whether we sit in the front row or under the balcony. The unique acoustics of religious spaces acquire symbolic meaning. Social relationships are strongly influenced by the way that space changes sound. In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter examine auditory spatial awareness: experiencing space by attentive listening. Every environment has an aural architecture.The audible attributes of physical space have always contributed to the fabric of human culture, as demonstrated by prehistoric multimedia cave paintings, classical Greek open-air theaters, Gothic cathedrals, acoustic geography of French villages, modern music reproduction, and virtual spaces in home theaters. Auditory spatial awareness is a prism that reveals a culture's attitudes toward hearing and space. Some listeners can learn to "see" objects with their ears, but even without training, we can all hear spatial geometry such as an open door or low ceiling. Integrating contributions from a wide range of disciplines—including architecture, music, acoustics, evolution, anthropology, cognitive psychology, audio engineering, and many others—Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? establishes the concepts and language of aural architecture. These concepts provide an interdisciplinary guide for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of how space enhances our well-being. Aural architecture is not the exclusive domain of specialists. Accidentally or intentionally, we all function as aural architects.




Responsive Environments


Book Description

Clearly demonstrates the specific characteristics that make for comprehensible, friendly and controllable places; 'Responsive Environments' - as opposed to the alienating environments often imposed today. By means of sketches and diagrams, it shows how they may be designed in to places or buildings. This is a practical book about architecture and urban design. It is most concerned with the areas of design which most frequently go wrong and impresses the idea that ideals alone are not enough. Ideals must be linked through appropriate design ideas to the fabric of the built environemnt itself. This book is a practical attempt to show how this can be done.




Doing Field Projects


Book Description

A must-read guide to conducting qualitative field research in the social sciences Doing Field Projects: Methods and Practice for Social and Anthropological Research delivers a thorough and insightful introduction to qualitative field methods in the social sciences. Ideal for undergraduate students just starting out in fields like anthropology, sociology, and related subjects, the book offers readers twenty instructive projects. Each project is well-suited as a standalone exercise, or several may be combined as a series of field work assignments. From interview techniques to participant observation, kinship analysis, spatial mapping, photo and video documentation, and auto-ethnography, Doing Field Projects covers each critical area of qualitative fieldwork students are likely to encounter. Every project also contains discussions of how to execute the research, avoid common problems and mistakes, and present the uncovered data in several different formats. This important resource also offers students: A thorough introduction to fieldwork, including the history of fieldwork methods, the shift from colonial to post-colonial anthropology, and discussion of fieldwork vs. ethnography Comprehensive explorations of getting started with fieldwork, including necessary equipment, research design, data presentation, and journal keeping Practical discussions of the ethics of fieldwork, including the "Do No Harm" principle, institutional approval, openness, and anonymity In-depth examinations of autoethnography, proxemics, mapping, recorded interviews, participant observation, and engaged anthropology The opportunity to conduct a complete fieldwork course using digital and online resources only Supporting learning material for each chapter, including a brief outline of Learning Goals and a paragraph summarizing the contents Doing Field Projects: Methods and Practice for Social and Anthropological Research is the perfect guide for undergraduate students taking courses and programs in which qualitative field methods are central to the field, like anthropology and sociology.




Topologies


Book Description

The utopian vision of spatial urbanism--an avant-garde architectural phenomenon that blended technology, leisure, and culture--examined as a reaction to modernism and official government building and planning in the embattled cultural context of 1960s France.




Architecture


Book Description

A superb visual reference to the principles of architecture Now including interactive CD-ROM! For more than thirty years, the beautifully illustrated Architecture: Form, Space, and Order has been the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. The updated Third Edition features expanded sections on circulation, light, views, and site context, along with new considerations of environmental factors, building codes, and contemporary examples of form, space, and order. This classic visual reference helps both students and practicing architects understand the basic vocabulary of architectural design by examining how form and space are ordered in the built environment.? Using his trademark meticulous drawing, Professor Ching shows the relationship between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultural boundaries. By looking at these seminal ideas, Architecture: Form, Space, and Order encourages the reader to look critically at the built environment and promotes a more evocative understanding of architecture. In addition to updates to content and many of the illustrations, this new edition includes a companion CD-ROM that brings the book's architectural concepts to life through three-dimensional models and animations created by Professor Ching.




Spatializing Culture


Book Description

This book demonstrates the value of ethnographic theory and methods in understanding space and place, and considers how ethnographically-based spatial analyses can yield insight into prejudices, inequalities and social exclusion as well as offering people the means for understanding the places where they live, work, shop and socialize. In developing the concept of spatializing culture, Setha Low draws on over twenty years of research to examine social production, social construction, embodied, discursive, emotive and affective, as well as translocal approaches. A global range of fieldwork examples are employed throughout the text to highlight not just the theoretical development of the idea of spatializing culture, but how it can be used in undertaking ethnographies of space and place. The volume will be valuable for students and scholars from a number of disciplines who are interested in the study of culture through the lens of space and place.