This paper builds on current calls in HCI to conduct experiments
outside laboratory environments or ‘in the wild’. The paper
presents an overview of debates in ecology and wilderness studies
to explain the need for wild research environments to be both free
and natural. The paper then presents a history of movement
capture in the wild and introduces the Motion in Place Platform
(MiPP) project, a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council
funded project investigating the use of motion capture techniques
outside of research labs and presents two case studies of research
conducted through the MiPP project focusing on the influence of
the ‘wild’ environment the research was conducted in. The first
case study examines methods of measuring the effect of the
environment on the experiment. The second case study examines
affordances of ‘wild’ environments, which were not anticipated
by the experiment’s designers.