Physical spaces, virtual places and social worlds

This case study explores the nature of work for one group of systems administrators. Their virtual work domain offered little support for collaboration and mechanisms in the physical domain were often used instead. However, the way that group members were able to make sense of their complex virtual work environment suggests a new interpretation of spatial metaphors for the design of collaborative systems. This is one based on 'place' or 'locale', and 'centres', taking into account the observation that people work in multiple social worlds simultaneously, that these social worlds provide a structuring over the work domain, and that the individual draws from this structure elements relevant to their tasks.