This work focuses on the impact of mobile computing on individuals' perspectives of places within their community. A technological intervention is designed and deployed to augment the user experience of visiting different locations around town, physically exploring them while also interacting with an online tool. The tool-supported activity serves as a means for users to consider the capabilities of location-aware features of mobile computing relative to visiting these places. The prevalence of wireless technology and mobile computing in today's cultures has given rise to many socio-technical affordances. The evolution of cellular networks and wireless broadcasting capabilities not only increases the bandwidth and information flow but has made access more readily available. Communities not only exist and develop geographically, they forge presence and exist virtually. Message boards, listservs, instant messaging, social networking sites, municipal wireless efforts, and location-based services all provide new and exciting means for individuals to access information and enrich their knowledge and understanding of their communities and interactions with one another. However, there is an insufficient understanding of how and in what capacities mobile technologies might integrate and support daily activities and social interactions. More specifically, though social presences exist in virtual spaces, there doesn't appear to be an awareness of how these spaces overlap with, extend, contend with, and shape their physical counterparts. This study aims to address and explore social interactions within mixed-space, physical and virtual, interactive activities. The study develops a game situation that encourages exploration and interaction within physical locations and their counterpart virtual/online locations to better analyze and understand the characteristics of social interactions relative to mobile technologies and location-based applications. The outcome is a suggestion of guidelines for continued exploration of this space and development of tools to enable and support social interactions with both online and offline qualities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]