Various
kinds of resources (physical, digital, local, far), settings (real
and mediated, single or multiuser) and mediating tools are simultaneously
active during the interaction with digital environments. In conducting
research on human-computer interaction is then vital to work with
cross-medial data collections, namely with data which derive from
different collection procedures addressing various aspects of
the interaction and which are combined according to an overarching
methodological rationale.
The present paper intends to describe some techniques for the
collection and displaying of cross-media data, integrating them
with some methodological considerations. Three procedures will
be illustrated, namely the split-screen technique, that allows
the synchronized visualization of different environments on the
same screen; the action indicator augmented display, that allows
to enrich the visual recording with signals notifying the occurrence
of a particular event; the pentagram, which allows to transcribe
multiple sequences of events in their reciprocal temporal relationship.
The basic characteristic of these techniques are described and
illustratively applied to the interaction with virtual environments.
