Affordances of media spaces for collaboration

In this paper, I discuss the affordances offered by media spaces for collaboration, contrasting their properties with those of the everyday medium and exploring the implications for perception and interaction. Collaboration is situated in a physical environment which supports or constrains the various forms social interactions might take. An analysis of the affordances of the environment – the properties that offer actions and interactions to those within it – thus complements analyses which emphasize social and cultural factors. Examining the “physics” of media space systems is helpful both in understanding how people use them to collaborate and in suggesting possibilities for design.