DO PARTNERS CARE ABOUT THEIR MUTUAL LOCATION? Spatial awareness in virtual environments

This paper reports on four experimental studies concerning regard to how people use space so as to solve problems collaboratively in virtual environments. Prior to presenting the results, it summarizes the wide range of literature concerning social uses of spatiality in human interactions. The experiments we conducted revealed that virtual space modifies and improves collaborative processes such as division of labor, grounding, communication, coordination, as well as the performance to the task. It concludes by proposing Computer Supported Collaborative Work practitioners' ideas about how to use these results in order to design more effective and more adapted environments.

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