Organizing artefacts in space

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In examining the relationships between persons and artifacts in space, another relevant topic is how people organize tools and objects in space. When manipulating artifacts, human beings organize information spatially so as to simplify perception and choice, and to minimize internal computation in the physical world (Kirsh, 1995) as well as in virtual and augmented reality environments (Biocca et al., 2001). Biocca explored how people organized virtual tools in an augmented environment. Users had to repair a piece of equipment in a virtual environment. The way they used virtual tools showed patterns of simplifying perception and object manipulation (for instance by placing reference material like clipboard well within the visual field on their right).