Scribblr: Back to the Future of Visual Document Mark-up Jane Burry 1 , Alastair Weakley 2 , Keith Deverell 1 , Laurene Vaughan 1 , Jeremy Yuille 1 1 RMIT University, address Victoria Australia Jane.burry@rmit.edu.au , 2 UTS University, address New South Wales, Australia Abstract. This paper describes our approach to the design of Scribblr; an internet-based tool to support mark-up of images in the course of creative work. The mark-up, which may be textual or freeform sketches, forms a conversation between remote collaborators which is archived and can be revisited at a later date. This paper considers the ways in which two key spaces are transformed and extended through the use of the Scribblr tool. The first is the non-place space, exemplified by the airport lounge, which becomes an extension of the collaborative studio; the second is the space of traditional paper-based mark-up. They are transformed through their overlap with a third space: the space of the remote, but universally accessible, database, the active collective repository that transforms the workflow of practitioners working together. Keywords: mark up, annotation, image-based online tool, distant collaboration 1. Introduction This paper reports research through the design of a tool to activate two spaces to create places of social interaction and production through reintroducing a surviving traditional paper-based practice into a virtual online space. These two spaces are: the non-place space, exemplified by the airport lounge, which becomes an extension of the collaborative studio, and the two dimensional drawing space of the traditional paper- based mark-up. 1.1 First space: the airport, a non-place space How we define the terms space and place can be a contested area between those that believe that space is the empty container in which places occur, and others, such as de Certeau, who argue that space is not a fixed or empty location, rather it is a place that is a fixed position and space is the construct of our practices. [2] It is the practices of everyday life (humanity) that facilitate the dialogue between these two entities. [3] (p 7, 8). In this discussion we are building on de Certeau’s focus on the importance of inhabitation as a means for making the locations that we live and work in, in particular through a consideration of the airport or transport interchange as the non-place. ‘… the word ‘non-place’ designates two complementary but distinct realities: spaces formed in relation to certain ends (transport, transit, commerce, leisure), and the relations that individuals have with these spaces.’ [4] Within and through virtual tools, the interface becomes the space of the studio, the place of practice, which is located within the broader physical space of the airport and the non-place is transformed into being the site/place of habitation and professional practice. Proc 13th Intl Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia VSMM 2007, Brisbane, Australia, 23-26 Sept 2007 ISBN: 978-0-9775978-3-3 http://australia.vsmm.org 33