Interaction Space Research Articles

From reflective practice to communicative interaction: a case study on the use of blogs by student teachers

Abstract This case study examines the use and possibilities of blogging as reflective practice journals by student teachers during their practicum. The blog serves as a tool for the construction of their teacher identity through the encouragement of daily reflection on school experiences. The study investigates how the blog, as a digital tool, facilitates peer interaction, reflective thinking, and collaborative knowledge construction. Conducted with participants from primary and secondary education programs at the University of Valencia the research employs a qualitative, instrumental case study methodology. The researcher acted as the teacher-tutor of the internships and students shared their impressions by sharing their experiences within the group. Findings suggest that blogs function as effective platforms for fostering reflective writing, enhancing peer support, and promoting collaborative knowledge construction, ultimately contributing to the development of professional identity among student teachers. Self-censorship is identified as the main limitation, especially when sharing perceived shortcomings in the school system and teaching practice. The study concludes that the blog provides an interactive space that enriches personal writing expression and collaborative learning, highlighting also their value in teacher education.

"The struggle is a part of the experience": Engaging Discontents in the Design of Family Meal Technologies

Meals are a central (and messy) part of family life. Previous design framings for mealtime technologies have focused on supporting dietary needs or social and celebratory interactions at the dinner table; however, family meals involve the coordination of many activities and complicated family dynamics. In this paper, we report on findings from interviews and design sessions with 18 families from the Midwestern United States (including both partners/parents and children) to uncover important family differences and tensions that arise around domestic meal experiences. Drawing on feminist theory, we unpack the work of feeding a family as a form of care, drawing attention to the social and emotional complexity of family meals. Critically situating our data within current design narratives, we propose the sensitizing concepts of generative and systemic discontents as a productive way towards troubling the design space of family-food interaction to contend with the struggles that are a part of everyday family meal experiences.

When David meets Goliath. Inclusive Multi-track Peacemaking amidst Geopolitical Competition for Syria

ABSTRACT This article discusses the inclusion and multi-track nexus by empirically analysing how it originates and influences Track-One actors in the context of high geopolitical rivalry. Illustrated by the UN mediation in Syria, I argue that inclusion modalities, conceived as fixed and Track One-dependent, are adaptable and create parallel spaces for interaction alongside high-level political actors. In Syria’s conflict, the Civil Society Support Room has emerged as an example. Based on 24 interviews, this article demonstrates how inclusive multi-track, such as the CSSR, evolves into adaptive participatory systems through the lens of patchworked peacemaking, thereby questioning traditional hierarchical notions of multi-track.

Implementasi Teknologi Metaverse Dengan Metode Kualitatif Pada Man Insan Cendekia Oki

This research aims to explore the application of metaverse technology at MAN Insan Cendekia OKI through a qualitative approach. In an educational context, the metaverse offers an immersive and interactive learning space, allowing students to interact in a virtual environment. Through in-depth interviews and observations, this research identifies the challenges and opportunities faced in the integration of this technology. The findings show that despite barriers in infrastructure and technological understanding, implementing metaverses can increase student engagement and create more engaging learning experiences. Recommendations are provided to improve technical support and training for educators in implementing the metaverse effectively.

What (Counter) Monuments for Feminism? The Debates over Monumental Commemoration and the Search for New Feminist Memory Frameworks

At the intersection of memory and feminist studies, this article examines the issue of suffrage and feminist monumental commemoration in the United States. Starting from the deficit of statues representing female historical figures in the public space, it analyzes the conception and reception of two important monuments honoring women’s suffrage (Portrait Monument 1921 and the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument 2020). While those monuments have somewhat broken the “bronze ceiling”, they testify to the mechanics of exclusion and inclusion at work both in the construction of history and memory. Then, the article takes on a broader perspective, questioning the extent to which traditional monuments, as products of a patriarchal culture and memory, can properly commemorate modern feminism. The essay identifies two trends, one consisting of transforming the bronze through various strategies, the other of “breaking the bronze” by replacing it with other materials and proposing new memory frameworks belonging to what James E. Young has labeled countermonuments. Still, the article ultimately questions the limits of the monument itself and points to the notion of interactive spaces as perhaps the most adequate sites of memory for the complex, multifaceted, contested, and contemporary movement that feminism(s) stand(s) for.

Exploring Trust Ecology in a Public-Private Partnership for Agricultural Innovation in the United States Bioeconomy

United States (US) federal agencies are endorsing public-private partnerships (PPPs) to link public institutions with industry to develop local supplies of biofuel and build a domestic bioeconomy. Although trust is a critical factor within effective PPPs, few studies have addressed the different types of trust needed to cultivate these partnerships. Employing a mixed-method design, we explore a PPP in the Southeast US through the lens of trust ecology. We describe how participants perceive trust types within different project spaces and how trust changed during the partnership. Our findings highlight the role that different interactive spaces can play in cultivating types of trust that accumulate in an additive fashion. We offer insights on process-design mechanisms and project management strategies that can bolster trust in PPPs.

Interactional space for agency: Discussing photography with preschoolers

According to the latest research in both arts education and childhood studies, young children's agency is relational, entangled and negotiated. However, in early childhood visual arts education, modernist practices emphasising the independent and self-expressive child–agent are still recognisable. In this article, early childhood artistic activities are seen as a shared venue for interaction, social exchange and joint meaning-making, thereby providing a specific forum for displaying agency. Informed by conversation analysis, we explore discussions between 14 preschoolers and a researcher on contemporary art and children's self-authored photographs in a workshop in an early childhood education and care centre. By examining our discussions as turn-by-turn procedures, we identify children's displays of agency. The findings illustrate children's agency as a multifaceted and complex interactional phenomenon based on verbal and non-verbal communication and demonstrating both imaginative, progressively oriented talk and modes of resistance. While a shared playful stance appeared as a suitable means to approach art/creative photographs, it simultaneously became an essential interactional resource for inviting and promoting children's agency. Collaborative play with photographs provided an interactional space in which the fixed child/children–adult binary could be questioned and different types of agency were available for both children and the adult.

Evaluating Typing Performance in Different Mixed Reality Manifestations using Physiological Features

Mixed reality enables users to immerse themselves in high-workload interaction spaces like office work scenarios. We envision physiologically adaptive systems that can move users into different mixed reality manifestations, to improve their focus on the primary task. However, it is unclear which manifestation is most conducive for high productivity and engagement. In this work, we evaluate whether physiological indicators for engagement can be discriminated for different manifestations. For this, we engaged participants in a typing task in three different mixed reality manifestations (augmented reality, augmented virtuality, virtual reality) and monitored physiological correlates (EEG, ECG, and eye tracking) of users' engagement and workload. We found that users achieved best typing performances in augmented reality and augmented virtuality. At the same time, physiological engagement peaked in augmented virtuality, while workload decreased. We conclude that augmented virtuality strikes a good balance between the different manifestations, as it facilitates displaying the physical keyboard for improved typing performance and, at the same time, allows one to block out the real world, removing many real-world distractors.

Revisiting modern campuses through spaces for leisure in Izmir, Turkey

ABSTRACT Division of working and leisure spaces as an early product of modern life has still its traces on urban context. Campus spaces, not only universities, reflect such a programmed structure related to modern everyday life. This paper aims to discuss the changing relationship between working and leisure on varying campus spaces, which embrace these two essential components of modern societies. Many campuses in early Turkey follow similar modernist organisational principles in their design and performs an original path in spatial transformation. Industry, education, and public service campuses, which were established in İzmir during the 1950s, constitute the spatial framework of this paper. The paper aims to trace the leisure areas of three campuses and examine this meticulously programmed life idea under the influence of the changing leisure spatial culture in Turkey from the 1950s to today. These spaces are articulated and examined by their dwellings and social interaction spaces. Besides, the social experience and individual perspectives of campus users are documented and merged with the physical analysis of the working and leisure spaces. Discussing those examples in socio-spatial details underlines the transformation and dissolution of campus idea in urban life and exposes the unique experience of campus spaces of İzmir.

REPRESENTATIONS OF PRESCHOOL TEACHERS ON CHILDREN'S GENDER AS A FACTOR IN DIFFERENTIATING THEIR FREE PLAY IN THE SCHOOLYARD

Gendered subjectivities are shaped within social structures, such as education, where gender inequalities intersect with other forms of social disparity. The individuals who operate within these structures play a role in both reproducing and maintaining ine-qualities, as well as in actively challenging them. However, as active agents, they can challenge gender order and inequalities, but their capacity to do so is subject to the constraints imposed by the framework in which they operate. The interaction between teachers and children in the schoolyard is a given, with the schoolyard serving as a space of socialization and interaction, thus becoming a field for the formation and nego-tiation of children's subjectivities. Teachers, through their presence in the schoolyard and their representations of children's gender characteristics, are expected to influence the formation of gendered subjectivities. The representations of preschool teachers re-garding children's gender as a factor in differentiating their free play in the schoolyard were the subject of this qualitative study, conducted through interviews. Twelve kin-dergarten teachers working in public and private schools in the Thessaloniki area par-ticipated. The thematic analysis of the data revealed that while the sample of teachers expressed opposition to gender segregation and inequalities, they adopted a neutral stance toward what occurs in the schoolyard. Moreover, many justified the differences they observed in boys' and girls' play in biological terms, among other reasons.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0773/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Determination of reduced density matrices in the doubly occupied configuration interaction space: A Hellmann-Feynman theorem approach.

In this work, the Hellmann-Feynman theorem is extended within the doubly occupied configuration interaction space to enable practical calculations of reduced density matrices and expected values. This approach is straightforward, employing finite energy differences, yet remains reliable and accurate even with approximate energies from successive approximation methods. The method's validity is rigorously tested against the Richardson-Gaudin-Kitaev and reduced Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer models using approximate excitation energies procured from the Hermitian operator method within the same space, effectively proving the approach's reliability with median error rates for reduced density matrix calculations around 0.1%. These results highlight the procedure's potential as a practical tool for computing reduced density matrices and expected values, particularly valuable as an ad hoc method in scenarios where only system energies are easily available.

#QuadrosDiscentes: Research into memes and art in teacher training in Brazil and Spain

In this paper we reflect on and present the results of part of a research project we conducted in academic years 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 with students of the Double Degree in Infant and Primary Education of the University of Girona - UdG (Catalonia, Spain) and students of the Degree in Visual Arts of Santa Catarina State University - UDESC (Brazil), concerning Internet memes and their linguistic strategies. In order to bring the two fields of study together and facilitate collaboration, a closed group within the Facebook social network was used as a space of interaction between the research subjects. The researchers took part in the experience, in accordance with the protocols of the action research method. The results point towards reflections and potential modifications that could be introduced in new research into how to learn and teach about volatile images—typical of cyberculture—in educational processes for teacher training.

Infrastructuring arrival and homemaking in COVID‐19 times: Experiences of newcomer Chinese students in Dutch cities

AbstractThis paper examines the experiences of newcomer Chinese students in Dutch cities during the COVID‐19 pandemic, building on three strands of literature on (i) arrival infrastructure, (ii) homemaking and (iii) the nature of conflating digital and offline spaces. Based on qualitative research findings from two research projects, the paper illustrates resilience among the students in infrastructuring their arrival and making a new home in an unfamiliar city that was rather inaccessible due to recurrent social distancing restrictions and incidents of ‘Corona racism’. Narratives of the research participants offer insights into their arrival experiences and homemaking practices in key interlinked life spaces, namely academic, residential and socialising spaces as well as spaces of interactions with the broader (unwelcoming) society. In addition to students' agency, our findings demonstrate the importance of (transnational) communal care and the role of the digital in students' arrival experiences and homemaking practices.

Integrating Streetscape Images, Machine Learning, and Space Syntax to Enhance Walkability: A Case Study of Seongbuk District, Seoul

As urbanization rapidly progresses, streets have transitioned from mere transportation corridors to crucial spaces for daily life and social interaction. While past research has examined the impact of physical street characteristics on walkability, there is still a lack of large-scale quantitative assessments. This study systematically evaluates street walkability in Seongbuk District, Seoul, through the integration of streetscape images, machine learning, and space syntax. The physical characteristics of streets were extracted and analyzed in conjunction with space syntax to assess street accessibility, leading to a combined analysis of walkability and accessibility. The results reveal that the central and western regions of Seongbuk District outperform the eastern regions in overall street performance. Additionally, the study identifies four distinct street types based on their spatial distribution: high accessibility–high overall score, high accessibility–low overall score, low accessibility–high overall score, and low accessibility–low overall score. The findings not only provide a scientific basis for street development in Seongbuk District but also offer valuable insights for assessing and enhancing walkability in cities globally.

Current issues of digital skills formation in modern education

The article talks about current problems of formation of a set of students’ digital skills in a new learning format. The authors of the study, having studied European standards for teaching information skills at various levels, consider digital skills as necessary for mastering professional knowledge, managing modern and future life, techniques and technologies. The authors of the article analyze the conditions for their formation in the process of vocational education and make an attempt to define them within the framework of qualifications in five aspects: digital literacy and ability to organize information blocks, space for conversations and interaction; information security and search for solutions. The article also identifies and substantiates the need to design basic digital skills for students, updates the creation of a scientific and methodological basis for teaching digital skills during organized learning, and reveals the strategies of pedagogical approaches to blended learning. In addition, it is shown that digital didactics is the basis for creating modern methods and strategies for teaching a profession in a digital format, however, in order to implement all the principles and strategies of digital learning, it is necessary to eliminate the question of forming students' digital competencies and level digital skills.

The Metaverse Territorial Brand: A Contemporary Concept

The “Metaverse Territorial Brand” integrates core and interconnected elements into a virtual, interactional, experiential, and immersive space known as the metaverse. This type of brand encompasses the connection with immersive territories that may or may not be digital twins of real territories. It also encompasses two interconnected physical scales: the territorial and the regional, involved in another type of emerging territorial scale, known as the metaversal scale. Therefore, the “Metaverse Territorial Brand” is a digital-immersive extension of the territorial brand of physical territories, encompassing specific geographical and cultural aspects, but directed to the metaverse environment. This brand is a symbolic digital construction, but also a multifaceted one that incorporates discursive and visual elements, articulated by the social actors of the immersive territory, aiming to create a specific and distinct identity for a space in the metaverse. When talking about social actors in the metaverse (users), we highlight that this set of actors may or may not be the same as the physical territory. It is also important to highlight that both the territorial brand directed to physical territories and the “Metaverse Territorial Brand” are formed from the power relations of a given set of social actors. Therefore, without the strategic intention of a plurality of social actors that stimulate these relationships, there is no type of territorial brand involved.

“Incivility makes me angrier than uncivil disagreement”: a survey experiment using news comments

ABSTRACT News comments are a great space for citizen interaction, albeit they lack the rationale that would account for an online deliberative space. Through an experiment embedded into a population-based survey, this study seeks to explain how different levels of both incivility and disagreement affect readers on two key variables: negative emotions and user participation. Results show that the exposure to both incivility alone and uncivil disagreement increases negative emotions by the reader, such as anxiety and anger. However, contrary to what literature suggested, incivility by itself was the group with the biggest increase on negative emotions. In terms of online participation (e.g. putting an extra like in a comment), results showed no evidence to indicate a relationship between incivility, disagreement, and online participation. These results support previous findings suggesting that the exposure to online political incivility has mainly negative consequences.

Spatial Semiotics in Pre-Islamic Arabic Poetry: The Study Case of Suspended Odes

Spatial structure plays an important role in the seven suspended odes, "Mu'allaqat," being tightly interrelated by sequential compositional manifestations to the narrative format of the circular journey through the spatial nature of the Arabian Peninsula. This is because they denote a compiled configuration with clarity and profundity regarding this systematic representation. Literary rhetoric bestows upon them distinctiveness, illumination, and embellishment. The research branches into two paths, demarcating the spatial signs into two forms: static space and interactive space. To capture the meanings of these two spaces through the interpreter of each sign, it requires a comprehensive excavation of the archaeological and historical foundations of civilization. The initial stages of cultural forms incorporate the spatial structure of the Arabian Peninsula and serve as the foundational cornerstone for the semiotic analysis, since the effectiveness of interpreting the markers of spatial structure highlights the interaction between the signifier and the signified. The formats of the suspended odes embody multifaceted depictions among the poets of the lengthy verses. Semiotic interpretation contributes to improving the discursive nature of the sign, as the spatial model archetype in the suspended odes finds its pre-eminence in literary semiotics.

Assessing proxemics impact on Human-Robot collaboration safety in construction: A virtual reality study with four-legged robots

Recent advancements in four-legged robots have prompted their integration into the construction industry, yet the safety implications of their deployment remain inadequately explored. As such comprehensive investigations are required to ensure the safety of robot deployment and the well-being of construction professionals who work with and alongside these robots. This study addresses this gap by conducting a user-centered experiment employing virtual reality to assess human behavior and safety impacts in varying interaction spaces with four-legged robots within a simulated construction environment. By employing objective and subjective measures, including physiological and attentional responses, emotional reactions, situational awareness, risk perceptions, and attitudes towards robots, this study analyzes the impact of proxemics on construction individuals at two distinct interaction spaces: proximal (1.5 – 4 ft) and distal (12 – 25 ft) from the four-legged robots. The study found that while participants’ physiological responses, emotional states, situational awareness, risk perceptions, and attitudes towards robots were not significantly influenced by four-legged robot interaction space, those in the distal group allocated significantly more attention to the robot, particularly in terms of fixation count, indicating a significant proxemics impact on attentional states. These findings shed light on the safety implications of human-robot collaboration on jobsites, contributing to the advancement of safe and efficient practices in construction settings.

Empathy design method based on immersive interactive experiential spaces: A case study of Parkinson’s disease in China

It is a common challenge for designers to truly understand users’ behaviours and specific needs for universal design in the healthcare setting. This study proposes a new design method that allows designers to not only consciously understand the special user group, but also design for them in embodied scenarios. It aims to explore the effectiveness of experiential spaces in fostering designers’ empathy, stimulating design creativity, and proposing quality design solutions. Taking Parkinson’s disease (PD) as an example, this study developed the ‘PD Room’, an immersive and interactive experiential space. Participants were allowed to experience story scenarios of Parkinsonian under the development of symptoms from early to late stages. The results proved that the immersive interactive experience space method is an effective tool to assist designers in idea generation and multi-dimensional creativity. We hope that this method can be generalized to support practices of universal design through immersive empathic experiences.