UXA2023 Yasamin Asadi - Designing for a post-lockdown metaverse

With the worldwide population of adults over the age of 65 growing faster than any other according to the United Nations, considering their voice in designing the 3D embodiment of the internet (the Metaverse) is necessary for moving away from the deficit model of ageing, especially coming out of the pandemic. This presentation advocates for an ethnographic, co-design approach with older adults for those looking to design in a fully immersive space.

Transcript

1. Designing for a Post Lockdown Metaverse YASAMIN ASADI
2. Introduction
3. COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Different types of connections over distance.
5. The Metaverse. Blurring the boundaries between the digital and the physical world.
6. Examples of virtual worlds.
7. Road to digitalisation Digital Model Digital Shadow Digital Twin
8. Metaverse brings new opportunities for social connections.
9. Picture credit: Sydney Jewish Museum, 2023. Reverberations: A Future of Memory
10. The experience of connections over distance. Older adults' technology use during the pandemic. Adjustments to technology?
11. Interviews
12. 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
13. Slowness.
14. 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
15. The focus was on social technology use. Slowness was generated later as a theme.
16. Findings
17. Proposed Pathways The Agency Pathway The Preferred Interaction Pathway The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway
18. The Agency Pathway
19. Designing to support agency. The Agency Pathway
20. "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
21. Reflection. The Agency Pathway
22. Reflection triggered by circumstances. The Agency Pathway
23. Organic reflection. The Agency Pathway
24. Interactions in the Metaverse. The Agency Pathway Avatars. Smart Assistants. NPCs.
25. 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
26. Different avatars for different contexts. The Agency Pathway
27. User-led instead of designer-led. The Agency Pathway Technologies to support slowing down, whether by choice or compelled by external circumstances.
28. The Preferred Interaction Pathway
29. "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
30. Screen-based interactions can make some people feel "othered". The Preferred Interaction Pathway
31. "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
32. Adjusting the settings is current social media can be hard to find. The Preferred Interaction Pathway
33. Privacy concerns about current technologies. The Preferred Interaction Pathway
34. Privacy concerns about the Metaverse. The Preferred Interaction Pathway
35. Flexible degrees of involvement. The Preferred Interaction Pathway
36. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway
37. "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
38. Considering natural rhythms. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway
39. 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
40. Connections around hobbies. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway
41. Design with natural clocks in mind. The Adapting to Social Circumstances and Natural Rhythms Pathway
42. Conclusion Conducted an ethnographic study with older adults. Suggested 3 pathways for future design. Hope to see users inform the design more moving forward.
43. Thank you!