TY - JOUR
T1 - Metaverse Perspectives from Japan
T2 - A Participatory Speculative Design Case Study
AU - Hohendanner, Michel
AU - Ullstein, Chiara
AU - Miyamoto, Dohjin
AU - Huffman, Emma Fukuwatari
AU - Socher, Gudrun
AU - Grossklags, Jens
AU - Osawa, Hirotaka
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
PY - 2024/11/8
Y1 - 2024/11/8
N2 - Currently, the development of the metaverse lies in the hands of industry. Citizens have little influence on this process. Instead, to do justice to the pluralism of (digital) societies, we should strive for an open discourse including many different perspectives on the metaverse and its core technologies such as AI. We utilize a participatory speculative design (PSD) approach to explore Japanese citizens’ perspectives on future metaverse societies, as well as social and ethical implications. Our contributions are twofold. Firstly, we demonstrate the effectiveness of PSD in engaging citizens in critical discourse on emerging technologies like the metaverse by presenting our workshop framework and participants’ processes. Secondly, we identify key themes from participants’ perspectives, providing insights for culturally sensitive design and development of virtual environments. Our analysis shows that participants imagine the metaverse to have the potential to solve a variety of societal issues; for example, breaking down barriers of physical environments for communication, social interaction, crisis preparation, and political participation, or tackling identity-related issues. Regarding future metaverse societies, participants’ imaginations raise critical questions about human-AI relations, technical solutionism, politics and technology, globalization and local cultures, and immersive technologies. We discuss implications and contribute to expanding conversations on metaverse developments.
AB - Currently, the development of the metaverse lies in the hands of industry. Citizens have little influence on this process. Instead, to do justice to the pluralism of (digital) societies, we should strive for an open discourse including many different perspectives on the metaverse and its core technologies such as AI. We utilize a participatory speculative design (PSD) approach to explore Japanese citizens’ perspectives on future metaverse societies, as well as social and ethical implications. Our contributions are twofold. Firstly, we demonstrate the effectiveness of PSD in engaging citizens in critical discourse on emerging technologies like the metaverse by presenting our workshop framework and participants’ processes. Secondly, we identify key themes from participants’ perspectives, providing insights for culturally sensitive design and development of virtual environments. Our analysis shows that participants imagine the metaverse to have the potential to solve a variety of societal issues; for example, breaking down barriers of physical environments for communication, social interaction, crisis preparation, and political participation, or tackling identity-related issues. Regarding future metaverse societies, participants’ imaginations raise critical questions about human-AI relations, technical solutionism, politics and technology, globalization and local cultures, and immersive technologies. We discuss implications and contribute to expanding conversations on metaverse developments.
KW - design fiction
KW - metaverse
KW - participatory speculative design
KW - research through design
KW - sociotechnical systems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85209379255&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3686939
DO - 10.1145/3686939
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85209379255
SN - 2573-0142
VL - 8
JO - Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
JF - Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
IS - CSCW2
M1 - ART400
ER -