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Design of a Multimodal Mixed Reality Work Environment with Wearable Technology
Get PDFIssues relating to health and well-being at work have risen in prominence, exerting negative effects upon both individuals and organizations. Two main contributing factors are a lack of awareness of one's bodily status and a lack of accessible and effective adjustment mechanisms. Through a comprehensive literature review in the fields of Physiology and Biosensors, Mixed Reality, and Environmental Psychology, this study examines the impacts of environmental attributes and investigates how technology can be leveraged to provide solutions for coping with changes in bodily status caused by internal or external stressors. To address the problem, this study proposes and develops a hybrid wearable and Mixed Reality system prototype that enhances awareness of bodily status and provides mediation. This prototype can adapt to the individual's real-time biometric data through a wearable glove, and provide personalized feedback in a Multimodal Mixed Reality working environment. A small-scale user testing was conducted and has yielded positive feedback. Ultimately, this study highlights that the implementation of a wearable and Mixed Reality system has the potential to contribute to a healthier and more productive workplace for individuals and organizations alike
living with (notes from inside the haunted house)
Get PDFThis project couples the subject of the haunted house and the subject of the trans, disabled body as resistant to normative nuclear family structures. Looking with aesthetic structures of layering/transparency, tangling/untangling, and hiding/revealing, the haunting of the domestic space becomes a lens through which to examine gender, visibility, memory, and care. Using my own non-linear experience of selfhood through gender transition, traumatic memory, and physical relationality to space, I attempt to recontextualize uncertainty and mutability as feelings worth embracing. This work consists of a non-linear written essay (this document) and FLICKERS, FRAGMENTS, a multi-media installation mixing old/new and analog/digital methods of creation
Futures of Queer Well-Being in India
Get PDFBeing queer in India entails navigating a multifaceted experience shaped by historical stigma, discrimination, and legal hurdles. Yet, the resilient queer community,
alongside allies and activists, advocates vocally for their rights. This research probes future forces impacting queer well-being, employing strategic foresight to examine trends. Scenarios envision potential shifts in well-being, unveiling interventions for stakeholders to optimize the queer community’s welfare. The insights obtained from the research guide us toward our envisioned future, harmonizing with the goals of the study. These insights offer stakeholders a profound grasp of queer individuals’ unique needs, facilitating tailored interventions. By reinforcing resilience and comprehending future dynamics, this research aspires to empower us to design a desired future, one in
which queer well-being flourishes in all dimensions
A Montessori Approach to Workforce Development and Future-Ready Adult Learning
Get PDFThis research explores principles from the Montessori method to inspire a guiding framework that can be employed to enhance the delivery of adult upskilling and re-skilling initiatives. Humanity is witnessing a technological revolution and recovering from the ongoing global pandemic that began in 2020. The effects of COVID-19 extended far beyond physical health, impacting labour market conditions and exacerbating stresses on labour shortages and labour skill gaps. This means that workforce innovation will be critical for economic recovery. Workforce innovation and development involves testing, sharing, and implementing new approaches to employment and training initiatives.
More than 100 years ago, amidst the rapid social and economic change that was taking place across Europe, Maria Montessori envisioned a new kind of education that could play a part in a broad social innovation program. She opened the first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House), aiming for the recovery of an entire community in San Lorenzo, Rome. At the time, San Lorenzo was known as the “shame of Italy”; with the introduction of the Montessori method, it soon became a beacon of hope for the community and the world. The Montessori Method was built on six primary principles: observation; freedom with limits; respect; hands-on learning; independence; and a prepared environment that is designed for children to choose freely from several developmentally appropriate activities. For Montessori, education (which she conceived of as active learning experience in the form of work) was integral to the growth of the child and the formation of a new world. This core philosophy is not restricted to children, however; Montessori’s core principles have been explored in adult learning; as part of designing and delivering healthcare programs for older adults around the world; and in language and social programs for adults at risk of social isolation in Europe. This major research project will focus on exploring how the core principles of the Montessori Method can be applied to support future-ready adult learning to inspire workforce innovation and development in Canada.
With a goal of supporting upskilling and re-skilling design innovation, and of prioritizing skills-training and development offerings for groups who face the greatest number of barriers (including racialized women and skilled recent immigrant talent), this study uses a heuristic inquiry approach to explore the question of how employment and skills training programs might learn from, and leverage the core principles of, the Montessori method to respond to and meet the skills gaps and labour shortages in Canada. Through a literature review and Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), this research project offers a Montessori-inspired, principle-focused guide to supporting future-ready adult learning environments
SensAble: a device and app for reducing anxiety in university students
Get PDFMany young adults experience anxiety in some form or another, and it is particularly common among university students. The isolation and lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic might have increased furthermore feelings of anxiety among this group. As part of my thesis, I aimed to develop a prototype of a wearable device that is hypothetically connected to an app for young adults (aged 18 to 29 years) in university that could potentially help reduce anxiety. Through literature review, contextual review, and primary research methods of user testing, I created a prototype, SensAble, that incorporates various sensory elements such as weight, light, music, and haptic vibration for the user to use at home to create a calming experience. In this document, I describe and reflect on the process of making, testing, and finalizing SensAble.
Keywords: Anxiety, young adults, university students, mobile app, multisensory integration, wearable haptic technology, weighted blanket, music therapy, chromotherapy
Bittersweet Longing of Nostalgia
Get PDF“Bittersweet Longing of Nostalgia”, aims to demonstrate the relationship between art, nostalgia and politics. In the early 20th century, the human world underwent many changes. The swift pace of change has touched every aspect of human life, including science, philosophy, politics, and society, and this transformation has also been reflected in the arts. During this period, committed artists were both supported and opposed, as many debated the role of politics in art. From 2022 through 2023, Iran is experiencing a revolution that will profoundly impact its political, social, and cultural landscape. The aim of this treatise is to examine whether artists can participate in ideological changes and whether the politicization of works affects the artist's intentions. The research utilized a combination of library-based research, autobiographical and auto ethnographic techniques, and studio-based exploration to investigate the intersection of politics, art, and protest. The research concludes that artists who genuinely believe in their ideologies (not due to government coercion) should enter the political arena and use their art to support the social movement. I argue that by expressing their preferred ideology, artists can create long-lasting and influential works. In order to develop a connection to the Women Life Freedom Protests in Iran, I am creating artworks that are related to my memories and/or the common nostalgia of collective memory. I borrow from the style of Persian miniature, a form of art that has a long history in Iranian culture and contains a great deal of metaphor and hidden meaning. I specifically use the Persian miniature as a symbol for Iranian to evoke their nostalgic memories in the new environment and create a connection between the present and the past.
Keywords:
Art protest, Nostalgia, Miniature, Politics, Anti-art washin
Facilitating Inclusive Running Events: Policy Analysis to Reduce Barriers for Persons With Disabilities
Get PDFThrough an Inclusive Design lens, this secondary research investigates the current state of accessibility for persons with disabilities (PWDs) within Toronto road-running events. The current academic literature demonstrates that PWDs benefit from participating in athletic and sports activities but that there are barriers preventing PWDs from participating. This research looks at the role event facilitators can play in reducing barriers for PWDs. The research uses evidence, in the form of policy documents, collected from event facilitators’ online public accessibility policies and, wherever possible, internal accessibility policies were also collected. The collected policies were then compared to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA). The AODA is a Government of Ontario law that aims to ensure persons with disabilities (PWDs) have the same opportunity as people without disabilities in all aspects of daily life. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the collected event facilitator’s accessibility policies were compared to the AODA. The research found that the current state of event facilitators’ accessibility policies varies widely and often does not comply with the AODA standards. As such, event facilitators must do more to comply with the AODA and work towards creating more inclusive road-running events
Unlearning Design: Creating a More Equitable and Ethical Design Culture
Get PDFDesign is a constantly evolving field that has long attracted creative minds from all backgrounds and ages. As design changes, so too does design education. One can take numerous pathways to learn design, possibly involving: higher education, bootcamp programs, on-the-job learning, and self-guided courses. However, despite significant growth in the design field, recent scandals involving design have called into question the ethics of the field, and by implication, the question of how ethics is (or is not) being taught to students.
This research project explores systems in design that have led to this quandary of ethics in the field. The paper explores changes that the so-called Information Age has brought to design, from pedagogical shifts and growing diversity, to governmental influence and cultural manipulation. Through a process involving a survey of over 50 designers and a set of interviews with current practitioners, the paper analyzes how those currently working in design understand their field. Insights drawn from this information are used to identify archetypes, informed by potential pathways through design education, perceptions of design and ethics, and familiar and emerging disciplines of design.
The purpose of this investigation is to better understand different pathways through design education, how such differences might shape a design learner’s perspective of the field in one way or another, and what effect it may have had on the design field’s relationship with ethics. Looking forward, I search for a system of ethical accountability designers can be held to, while still ensuring the field remains open and inviting to new curious minds