Designing for empathy in a church community

Whilst empathy is considered an essential component of our humanity, it is arguably absent as a design consideration when creating modern communications, where the focus is often one of speed and efficiency. However, as with all design attempts to promote a particular emotion, the inherent subjectivity means that it is best explored through practice based approaches. As such, this paper presents a research through design approach to designing for empathy, as a means of identifying some of the design sensibilities required to address such a challenge. We consider how design interventions to two currently personal rituals for reflecting upon prayers and worries within a church community in London may be extended and augmented in order to allow those prayers and worries to be shared more widely within the church community. It is expected that these interventions will promote conversation and support within the community, thus generating empathy between community members. From these designs we expect to be able to draw more general understandings about designing systems for empathy

Designing interactive objects and spaces for the digital public space

The Internet is evolving, both in form and function, at a rate which is becoming increasingly difficult to match. Through constructs such as The Internet of Things, our consumption of digital information and knowledge is slowly moving away from being primarily consumed through screens to one in which we are generators of data by interacting with the objects and spaces which surrounds us. Thus, the Internet is no longer a space we visit but rather the space we live in and experience in our daily lives. The Digital Public Space, a concept based on the democratisation of privately held knowledge, is intrinsically connected to the notions of Internet, especially around its delivery and reach. Whilst the two are arguably separated by different social and political motivational aspirations as the internet evolves so must our consideration of the Digital Public Space. The AHRC Creative Exchange research project was set to explore the myriad of potentials of the Digital Public Space from understanding, facilitation and creation of digital public spaces to privacy and ethical concerns. I approached this space by considering how our own physicality means that there will always be a tangible aspect to the consumption and production of digital information; a duality in existence which needs to be understood in order to design better experiences. In particular, I am concerned with the characteristics and particularities around the creation processes involved in the design of mixed-reality objects and spaces which might contribute to the Digital Public Space in the context imposed by the juxtaposition of the digital and the physical worlds. Therefore, this research presents the methodological framework required for the understanding of such design processes with a clear focus on the interactions and affordances mixed-reality artefacts make use of in their designs. Through the exploration of five different research projects, resulting from collaborative design-led research, conducted in close partnership between academia and the creative industries, I extract, rationalise and present ideas, individually, in order to present research insights for the design and construction of mixed-reality artefacts. The key aspects of which are summarised in a set of guidelines, taking the shape of a manifesto, to serve prospective designers in the production of mixed-reality artefacts