Re-Place-ing Space: The Roles of Place and Space in Collaborative Systems

Harrison, S. and Dourish, P. (1996). Re-Place-ing Space: The Roles of Place and Space in Collaborative Systems. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work CSCW’96 (Boston, MA), 67-76. New York: ACM.

In this paper, Harrison and Dourish make the distinction between “space” and “place” to facilitate and structure interaction in collaborative environments. We are all highly skilled at structuring and interpreting space for our individual or interactive purpose. The implied rational is that if we design collaborative systems around notions of space which mimic the spatial organiszation of the real world, then we can support the emergent patterns of human behavior and interaction which our everyday actions in the physical world exhibit. The authors argue that it is too simplicitc. In everyday action, appropriate behavioral framing comes not from a sense of space, but from the sense of place.

Space is the opportunity; place is the understood reality

A place is general a space with something added – social meaning, convention, cultural understandings about role, function and nature and so on. From their experiments in Making a Place in Media Space, the authors believe that one critical factor contributing to the very different patterns of use is this ability to participate, adapt and appropriate.