3132 research outputs found
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Reducing intracommunity harm and creating collectiveness in online communities through co-design
Full text linkOnline communities have been shown to have substantial benefits for individuals, specifically for those who experience forms of physical and social isolation. However, they can also be an avenue for further harm and exclusion to occur, especially for individuals who already experience levels of systemic, societal, and personal marginalization in their day-to-day lives. In this qualitative study, I explore the particular benefits, disempowerments, and limitations of one type of online community that has emerged in recent years: for those who still take COVID-19 precautions, such as wearing high-quality respirators in public, and care about limiting the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne illnesses while living in a world where the majority have moved on from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Using interviews and group co-design workshops, I engaged with 10 individuals who still take COVID-19 precautions and are a member of at least one of these online communities. The findings of this study highlight the unique intersectional lived experiences of these individuals and the most pressing needs they see within their community. I discuss the use of synchronous co-design workshops as a potential method for members of online communities to identify shared goals, principles, structure, and processes to reduce intracommunity harm and begin building a more collective community
Ontario’s Universities: An Act of Public Imagination -Transforming Ontario’s Public Universities Through Foresight and Social Innovation
Full text linkOntario’s postsecondary education system resembles a 'house of cards'; fragile, strained, and nearing collapse under the weight of structural inequities, financial precarity, and eroding public trust. This Major Research Project asks not how to preserve a failing system, but how to cultivate new architectures of resilience, imagination, and civic stewardship.
Using a multi-method approach that includes systems mapping, timeline analysis, semi-structured interviews, participatory foresight workshops, and wind tunnelling, the research traces the forces that have shaped Ontario’s higher education landscape. Four divergent future scenarios are developed to surface critical uncertainties and strategic tensions, alongside seven strategic intervention pathways designed to foster relational governance, regenerative learning ecosystems, and distributed leadership. A roadmap for phased institutional transformation is proposed, emphasizing adaptive, participatory, and place-based approaches.
The findings show that transformation will not emerge through incremental reform but through courageous acts of imagination, relational trust, and collective stewardship. Futures are not inherited. They are cultivated, through choices made today, and through the relationships we dare to build and sustain
Exploring Unscheduled Medication Information Challenges for Chinese Newcomers in Canada
Full text linkNewcomers in Canada often face a complex adaptation process. During the period, language barriers become the major obstacles to accessing essential health-related information. For Chinese newcomers with limited English or French proficiency, understanding unscheduled over-the-counter medication can be particularly challenging. The challenges include interpreting instructions, understanding unfamiliar medical terms, and navigating limited support. Cultural differences further complicate comprehension of Western self-medication practices.
This research project explores how these linguistic and cultural challenges affect Chinese newcomers’ ability to safely use unscheduled medications in Canada. Through two inclusive facilitation sessions and two user testing sessions, this study identifies the challenges Chinese newcomers face and explores inclusive design strategies to address them. By thoughtfully creating visual aids and a user-centred app prototype, the research aims to reduce comprehension barriers and improve medication information accessibility.
This research aims to support health equity and enhance the safety of self-medication practices among linguistically diverse populations in Canada
Playing for Change: The Potential of VR Feminist Games in Promoting Gender Equality
Full text linkMy research explores the integration of feminist theory and virtual reality (VR) game design to raise awareness of gender discrimination and misogyny. The central project of this thesis, Her Day, is a feminist VR game that immerses players in scenarios of gender-based discrimination. Drawing from personal experiences, the game reflects the systemic biases faced by women in traditional Chinese families and broader societal contexts. Guided by feminist theoretical frameworks, this study employs iterative design and value-conscious design methods, combining gameplay mechanics, such as emotion-driven choices, with VR’s unique features to encourage players to reflect critically on societal biases. This research explores the potential of feminist VR games as a transformative tool for promoting gender equity and social change. Through digital technology, it examines how interactive VR experiences can challenge systemic biases and foster critical reflection, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and equitable digital future
Road to Heaven
Full text linkRoad to Heaven is a project that explores the potential of motion-control and narrative-driven game design to create an aesthetic experience that expresses the bodily and spiritual dimensions of understanding and practicing Qigong. Traditionally, studies on Qigong have focused either on its medical or psychological benefits, however, my engagement with Qigong—through historical and philosophical reading, storytelling, and movement practice—has revealed it as an embodied affective journey akin to navigating a well-orchestrated narrative game. This study’s overarching question asks: Can motion control and narrative in a game generate an aesthetic experience that conveys the spiritual and physical essence of Qigong practice? To address this question, this research employs a reflexive methodology and research-creation methodology to generate media case studies and iterative game prototyping. Bernard Stiegler’s theoretical framework on “technic” provides a lens to situate Qigong within a contemporary Western context, while the interplay between Western sociological analysis and complex Chinese social and historical contexts informs the Qigong practice. The resulting dynamic — between personal embodiment, cultural heritage, and interactive storytelling — guides the creation of a prototype that transforms Qigong’s “Technic” into an interactive, aesthetic experience. The results plus the analytical knowledge of art and media, inform my narrative and game design. This project ultimately seeks to expand discussions on embodied knowledge, game aesthetics experience, and spiritual practice within digital media, fostering an ongoing reflexive cycle of experiential learning and prototype making
Do we need ‘NEW’?:Rethinking Trends Through Emotional Connections, Sustainable Design, and Cultural Heritage
Full text linkThe design industry, in its pursuit of novelty and profit, often sidelines longevity, cultural heritage, and ecological responsibility—a tension epitomized by the furniture sector’s reliance on disposable, trend-driven products. This thesis interrogates these systemic shortcomings through the lens of furniture design, where the rise of "fast furniture" mirrors a broader crisis: industries prioritizing mass production over meaningful innovation, convenience over craftsmanship, and extraction over equity. By centering India’s ancestral practices of upcycling and heirloom preservation, the work challenges the linear "take-make-waste" model dominating modern design, proposing instead a modular, adaptive bed system that embodies circularity and emotional durability.
Drawing from Jenga-like modularity and the Indian ethos of jugaad (problem solving with limited resource), this thesis applies the concepts of Jugaad from lived experience, responding to the practical necessity of modular function into a sustainable ethos, using the example of furniture adapting to users’ evolving lives. This approach not only critiques the furniture industry’s environmental and cultural costs but also illuminates a path forward for the design field at large. By redefining value as communal rather than commercial—prioritizing repair, local materials, and intergenerational storytelling—the project demonstrates how design can honor planetary boundaries while nurturing human connection.
Ultimately, this thesis positions furniture as a microcosm of design’s broader failures and possibilities, arguing that sustainability demands a return to practices rooted in care, adaptability, and cultural memory. It calls for an industry-wide shift from capitalist disposability to regenerative systems, where objects serve as dynamic companions rather than transient commodities
Between Hope and Hardship: Financial Resilience Through the Eyes of Everyday Canadians – Reimagining Financial Well-Being by Uncovering Hidden Needs in Canada’s Urban Centres
Full text linkThis research explores the complex realities of financial resilience through the lived experiences of everyday Canadians in Metro Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area. Despite large financial institutions’ public commitments to customer well-being, many individuals feel vulnerable, frustrated, and isolated as they manage rising costs, confusing credit systems, and housing dilemmas. Qualitative interviews with 17 community members reveal the emotional toll of these struggles—highlighting a sense of being left to figure things out alone, without meaningful support from the banks they rely on.
Alongside insights from five industry experts, this study uncovers a stark disconnect between the financial services people need and what institutions currently provide. The recommendations call for rethinking incentive structures, integrating accessible tools into banking platforms, and fostering trust through empathy and clear communication. Ultimately, this research invites financial institutions to reimagine how they support and foster financial resilience—not as a distant ideal, but as a deeply personal and urgent necessity for those striving to build stability, shared prosperity, and hope in an uncertain world
From Method of Loci to Digital Mnemonics: AI, AR, and the Future of Memory
Full text linkIn today's world, the sheer volume of information challenges our ability to remember effectively, prompting innovative approaches to cognitive support. This thesis explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) can work together to enrich memory. Building on traditional methods such as the Method of Loci (Memory Palace Technique), the study uses the Research through Design (RtD) and Speculative Design approach to iteratively develop and experiment with prototypes that integrate AI-generated cues with AR experiences in real-world settings. These prototypes serve as artifacts that actively explore the future of memory support. This work offers fresh insights into the interplay of AI, AR, and Human Memory, guiding the development of innovative approaches to potentially enhance memory
Pause Button Café
Full text linkI have always been fascinated by how space influences our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In cafés, I observed a paradox of privacy within public spaces, where one feels both seen and anonymous. This experience inspired my exploration of the fluidity of self and hybrid identity, challenging Cartesian notions of singular identity based on the rational mind. Using Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of the Third Space as a framework, my thesis examines identity as fluid and continually reshaped through interactions and space. I am creating an immersive interactive exhibition that resembles a café—a metaphor and a tangible context for the negotiation of identity. I use projections, interactive media, and objects to invite audiences to engage with the space and reflect on the multiplicity of identity. This project seeks to guide audiences toward seeing everyday spaces as liminal and fluid, encouraging them to notice the subtleties of transitional moments and inspiring new insights and identities
ME, MYSELF, & PEOPLE LIKE ME: A Visualized Analysis of Gentrification Systems in Toronto
Full text linkGentrification has continued to be criticized by academics for its contributions to rent hikes, closing of essential businesses, and displacement of marginalized residents in cities. In Canada, where a cost-of-living crisis impacts cities like Toronto, one may wonder: How can we aspire for a more equitable future? This research visualizes existing system of gentrification within Toronto, Canada, annotating the shared drivers between actants, and inquires whether a plausible narrative for de-gentrification can be crafted from this synthesis. Using literature and research from a range of disciplines, it employs various socio-cultural frameworks and visualization tools such as Actant and System Mapping to identify areas of opportunity within existing systems. Contributions of this research include visualizing the system and proposing possibilities of where the system can slow down if provided the proper resources. Secondarily, this work adds to the discourse of gentrification and de-gentrification within a Canadian context, offering an expanded socio-cultural understanding of the terms