The work presented here seeks an integration of spatial and social features supporting shared activities, and engages users in multiple locations to manipulate realtime video-streams. Standard and easily available equipment is used together with the communication standard WebRTC. It adds a spatial quality of experience by representing the users anywhere on the screen, with easily changed diverse backdrops, inviting users to co-design a shared mediated space. User studies show that a seamless integration of space, social dynamics and shared activity benefits the experience of presence, naturalness, immersion/ engagement and social connectedness. The results inform a discussion about spatial and social connectedness, stressing the importance of design to integrate architectural/spatial features and support complex social dynamics in mediated interaction.
QC 20160503