[Air-l] space and place

[Ben Anderson]

As ever different disciplines have interestingly different perspectives. I
suspect that ethologists, evolutionary psychologists and, perhaps, George
Lakoff et al would point out that our brains have been honed over several
million years to help us survive in a spatial world. So it is no surprise
that we employ spatial metaphors to describe, explain and 'organise' new
experiences nor that Kant's 3 questions are compelling (to most of us :-).

That said Michele is clearly right to ask questions about what such
metaphors are doing to the analysis and design of these 'new' phenomena and
'experiences'. I am reminded of a rather heated debate I had with some
'virtual worlds' researchers at the ECSCW 97 conference whose 3D workflow
system demanded that to delete a 'document' I had to 'pick it up' with the
mouse, 'walk' [literally if you will] to the 'wastebasket' and 'drop it in'.
For them, a re-creation of reality was the 'perfect design'. I just wanted
to delete a document.

Which brings me back to my interpretation of Michele's point: we need to be
careful not to take our metaphors literally.

Ben
-- 
Dr Ben Anderson
t: +44 (0)7710 187 806
www.essex.ac.uk/chimera