De la réalité virtuelle aux environnements numériques-Chapitre -IV-

1 - De la réalité virtuelle aux environnements numériques (digitally mediated environments) : Pourquoi un Psychologue de la Communication devrait-il explorer les interactions « online» et que peut-il en attendre ?

After a definition of what is ‘virtual reality’, the speech goes into a historical review of artificial, virtual and augmented reality. Therefore an attempt is made to define a ‘relevant psycho-social point of view’ on digitally mediated environments showing: a) the passage from Social Psychology to Social Psychology of Cyberplaces; b) the principal features of a historical perspective on interaction studies in Computer Mediated Communication; c) the definition of the concepts of cyberspace and cyberplace; d) the nature of research objects placed at the crossroad between Social Psychology and Social Psychology of Cyberplaces showing how to approach them.

Some examples of studies on digitally mediated environments are presented and discussed.