VideoCafé - Virtual Espresso-Cafés and Semi-Located Communities

This paper describes our studies of public media spaces. The reasons for utilizing public social places can be derived from a hypothesis that individuals are empowered — even when working apart — by opportunities for light informal interaction. The re-use of social places for videocommunication is examined through a set of full-scale prototypes that were used and assessed over extensive periods of time. The informal observations and reflection in design of these places have been supplemented by formal studies. We found that great care needs to be taken when designing these places from an architectural point of view. For some of the places, we would like to suggest using architectural features when altering the room rather than technology. In other settings, media altering might be more efficient.