Spaces of Interaction Places for Experience is a book about Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
interaction design (ID) and user experience (UX) in the age of ubiquitous computing. The book
explores interaction and experience through the different spaces that contribute to interaction
until it arrives at an understanding of the rich and complex places for experience that will be
the focus of the next period for interaction design. The book begins by looking at the
multilayered nature of interaction and UX-not just with new technologies but with technologies
that are embedded in the world. People inhabit a medium or rather many media which allow them
to extend themselves physically mentally and emotionally in many directions. The medium that
people inhabit includes physical and semiotic material that combine to create user experiences.
People feel more or less present in these media and more or less engaged with the content of
the media. From this understanding of people in media the book explores some philosophical and
practical issues about designing interactions. The book journeys through the design of physical
space digital space information space conceptual space and social space. It explores
concepts of space and place digital ecologies information architecture conceptual blending
and technology spaces at work and in the home. It discusses navigation of spaces and how people
explore and find their way through environments. Finally the book arrives at the concept of a
blended space where the physical and digital are tightly interwoven and people experience the
blended space as a whole. The design of blended spaces needs to be driven by an understanding
of the correspondences between the physical and the digital by an understanding of conceptual
blending and by the desire to design at a human scale. There is no doubt that HCI and ID are
changing. The design of microinteractions remains important but there is a bigger picture to
consider. UX is spread across devices over time and across physical spaces. The commingling of
the physical and the digital in blended spaces leads to new social spaces and new conceptual
spaces. UX concerns the navigation of these spaces as much as it concerns the design of buttons
and screens for apps. By taking a spatial perspective on interaction the book provides new
insights into the evolving nature of interaction design.
