Space Collaboration, and the Credible City: Academic Work in the Virtual University

Collaboration, greatly facilitated by advanced telecommunication networks, has become a dominant mode of conducting academic work. However, when collaborators meet in both physical and “electronic” spaces there are a number of unexamined costs that go with the efficiency and inclusiveness made possible by easy telecommunication-based exchanges. This article asks collaborators to be sensitive to the role that physical space plays in creative human endeavors, and to consider the impact on work accomplished in merged electronic and physical work environments. A history of city space and university space are presented within Richard Sennett's notion of exposure: a delicate balance of fear and stimulation associated with community. The concluding section of this article considers how to build the collaborative university so that the pleasures of physical space are preserved, and the efficiencies of reaching across distances with telecommunications can be leveraged. The article's coda presents a case study, and efforts are made to use hypermedia's attributes to improve the collaboration between author and reader.