Rethinking Virtual Places

HOW WOULD THE HUMANITIES CHANGE IF WE GRAPPLED WITH THE WAYS IN WHICH DIGITAL AND VIRTUAL PLACES ARE DESIGNED, EXPERIENCED, AND CRITIQUED?

In Rethinking Virtual Places, Erik Malcolm Champion draws from the fields of computational sciences and other place-related disciplines to argue for a more central role for virtual space in the humanities. For instance, recent developments in neuroscience could improve our understanding of how people experience, store, and recollect place-related encounters. Similarly, game mechanics using virtual place design might make digital environments more engaging and learning content more powerful and salient. In addition, Champion provides a brief introduction to new and emerging software and devices and explains how they help, hinder, or replace our traditional means of designing and exploring places.

Perfect for humanities scholars fascinated by the potential of virtual space, Rethinking Virtual Places challenges both traditional and recent evaluation methods to address the complicated problem of understanding how people evaluate and engage with the notion of place.

Erik Malcolm Champion is Honorary Professor at the Centre for Digital Humanities Research at Australian National University, Canberra; Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia; and Emeritus Professor, Curtin University. He is author of Organic Design in Twentieth-Century Nordic Architecture; Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage; and Playing with the Past. He is editor of The Phenomenology of Real and Virtual Places; Game Mods: Design, Theory and Criticism; and (with Agiatis Benardou, Costis Dallas, and Lorna Hughes) Cultural Heritage Infrastructures in Digital Humanities.

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Rethinking Virtual Places

1. A Potted History of Virtual Reality

2. Dead, Dying, Failed Worlds

3. Architecture: Places Without People

4. Theories of Place & Cyberspace

5. Rats & Goosebumps: Mind, Body & Embodiment

6. Games are not Interactive Places

7. Do Serious Gamers Learn From Place?

8. Cultural Places

9. Evaluating Sense of Place, Virtual Places & Virtual Worlds

10. Place-Making Interfaces & Platforms

Conclusion: Dwelling, Culture, Care

Glossary

Index