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Abstract

Introduction: Bodies in Space This chapter outlines an approach to designing information spaces that we call experiential design, and illustrates the approach with examples of our recent work. The main virtue of this approach is that it claims to draw on universal primitives in the way people understand things, events, relationships -- and information. And because of this virtue, it naturally supports social navigation of information spaces. The basic idea of experiential design is that, because we are embodied beings, meaning ultimately resides in bodily experiences. We have evolved to act in the physical world, and how we are able to understand abstract information is derived from that capacity. If we design for embodiment, understanding comes free; this is the first major benefit of the approach. The second major benefit of the experiential approach is this: since we all share the same evolutionary history and hence, bodily structures and potential for experiences, we share the sam