Path Frame: Mediated Hybrid Space and Reconfiguration of Situation Definitions

The operation of media systems drives the coupling between the virtual and the physical, which constitutes human civilization. This study examines how digital mobile media changes the relations between virtual and physical spaces, leading to new frames for meaning generation. In the pre-digital era, under the representational paradigm, the connection between virtual and physical happens in different directions and different dimensions. These variations gave rise to salience structure frames, liminal space frames and dramaturgy frames. The rapid boom of MVR, locative media and spatial computing media highlighted the copresence paradigm whereby the virtual and the physical are co-present in different proportions. This study proposes the concept of "path frame" which treats the path connecting between different frames in virtual and physical spaces as a meta-communicative frame. The conceptualization aims to recognize the ability for AI to participate in meaning creation and also promote the meaningfulness and fun of digital cities.