Designing for Death 2023

Emerging Technologies for the Process of Dying and the Memorialization of Life 

Abstract: Death is an inevitable part of life. But the manner in which we mourn death and memorialize life, both in terms of the promise of our own death, and the inevitable death of others, offers designers and artists an opportunity to creatively reimagine the ways emerging technologies might open up new possibilities for understanding and coping with this essential part of life. Our design research begins with a historical critique of various religious and philosophical traditions related to death and dying. This foundation frames our inquiry, as we apply design research methods to better understand how experts working in hospice and the cemetery industry prepare experiences for death and mourning. Drawing on these insights we present a prototype that demonstrates new modalities for memorializing those who have passed through auditory media eventually proposing future work based on these initial prototypes utilizing a mixed reality experience.

Khan, A., Yang, S., & Gonsher, I. (2023, July). Designing for Death: Emerging Technologies for the Process of Dying and the Memorialization of Life. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 78-92). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.


Development Team

Ian Gonsher (PI)
Asad Khan
Sunzhe Yang
 

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