Designing for a Post Lockdown Metaverse YASAMIN ASADI 

Introduction 

COVID-19 pandemic. 

Different types of connections over distance. 

The Metaverse. Blurring the boundaries between the digital and the physical world. 

Examples of virtual worlds. 

Road to digitalisation Digital Model Digital Shadow Digital Twin 

Metaverse brings new opportunities for social connections. 

Picture credit: Sydney Jewish Museum, 2023. Reverberations: A Future of Memory 

The experience of connections over distance. Older adults' technology use during the pandemic. Adjustments to technology? 

Interviews 

Interviews May - June 2020 How the pandemic affected their technology use. Discuss the technology use after the novelty effect wears off. Melbourne-based participants' views about technology use in lockdown. August 2020 October 2021 

Slowness. 

Ogden, 2020. Ogden, 2021. UK Droit-Volet et al, 2021. France Chan et al, 2022. Singapore Cornell et al, 2022 Australia Vermeulen et al, 2022. Belgium Kosac et al, 2022. Germany Alatrany et al, 2022. Iraq Similar Work 

The focus was on social technology use. Slowness was generated later as a theme. 

Findings 

Proposed Pathways The Agency Pathway The Preferred Interaction Pathway The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

The Agency Pathway 

Designing to support agency. The Agency Pathway 

"The early stages of lockdown were marvellous because you got to do all the things you’ve been meaning to do for ages. It encouraged me to go for walks, to do knitting which I haven’t done for 20-30 years, and it encouraged me to do some sewing which has been hovering like a guilty conscience forever." The Agency Pathway 

Reflection. The Agency Pathway 

Reflection triggered by circumstances. The Agency Pathway 

Organic reflection. The Agency Pathway 

Interactions in the Metaverse. The Agency Pathway Avatars. Smart Assistants. NPCs. 

Different avatars for different contexts. Kao, D. (2019). The effects of anthropomorphic avatars vs. non-anthropomorphic avatars in a jumping game. In Proceedings of the 14th international conference on the foundations of digital games. Latoschik, M. E. et al (2017). The effect of avatar realism in immersive social virtual realities. In Proceedings of the 23rd ACM symposium on virtual reality software and technology. The Agency Pathway 

Different avatars for different contexts. The Agency Pathway 

User-led instead of designer-led. The Agency Pathway Technologies to support slowing down, whether by choice or compelled by external circumstances. 

The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

"I found that some of the Zoom happy hour things were getting to me a bit. I felt like I’m one of the few ones that’s single. Where they’re all couples and they would be sitting there with their wine. It made me feel a little bit different to them.[...] It was making me feel a little bit not necessarily good, whereas I don’t feel that when I’m out walking with them." The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

Screen-based interactions can make some people feel "othered". The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

"All the guys, widowers or bachelors, who live on their own, and I’ve just rung them up [...] Not to discuss the world or not- just how’s it going.[...] Couple of them said "If you’re not going to talk about transport, I’m not interested." They call it on-topic and off-topic. I didn’t want to talk about off-topic things. That’s been a bit of an eye-opener." The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

Adjusting the settings is current social media can be hard to find. The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

Privacy concerns about current technologies. The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

Privacy concerns about the Metaverse. The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

Flexible degrees of involvement. The Preferred Interaction Pathway 

The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

"My garden never looked as good because it’s never had as much time devoted to it as at the moment. [...] I’d be getting messages on my phone saying, "Where are you? We started the Zoom meeting." Then I’m going, "No, there’s still a bit of light." I join it at 6:00 instead of 5:00. I can still do some gardening. Why would I come in and sit down and chat?" The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

Considering natural rhythms. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

The main thing is I’ve realized that I feel like I’m 71 now. Even the active travellers I’ve known, once they’ve got to the late 70s, they sort of slow down. My friend who is 78, he’s much less interested in travelling than he was previously. So I’m sort of conscious about that and we’ve already lost two years of traveling. [...] I think some people might realize that age and health issues have sort of caught up with them in the two years without them realizing that things have changed. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

Connections around hobbies. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

Design with natural clocks in mind. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway 

Conclusion Conducted an ethnographic study with older adults. Suggested 3 pathways for future design. Hope to see users inform the design more moving forward. 

Thank you!