Across Voids: An Interactive Experience on Grief
- Submitting institution
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Falmouth University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 334
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- October
- Year
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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C - Design for Health and Wellbeing
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Across Voids is an immersive experience which explores how AI and immersive technologies can help support people in the grieving process. Grief is often discussed in terms of how it can be cured instead of (perhaps more realistically), how it can be supported (Hughes 2011). Immersive technologies, such as VR, have been shown to help create a healthier mind through examining our virtual selves (Georgieva 2017). By using these technologies with individuals experiencing grief, support and healing can be provided on an ongoing basis, not just at the beginning of a person’s grief journey.
The experience uses 360-degree video and spatial sound audio. The audio was created using the SuperCollider audio programming language. I built a custom software tool in SuperCollider which allows for surround sound using Vector Amplitude Panning (VBAP), a sound-engineering technique which creates 3D sound. Visuals were created using Three.js, a cross-browser JavaScript based library and interface which is used to create and display animated 3D computer graphics in a web browser using WebGL. The visuals and audio were implemented into Unity for a finalised user experience.
This project acts as an "emotional fitbit" to help users explore their experience with grief and loss; the user wears a Brain Computer Interface + VR headset and is able explore the experience at their pace, using webVR. The idea of a human-centred AI collaborator is explored using the GriefBot, which collaborates with the user to learn their emotional state in order to further assist with the recovery process. This portion of the research has fed into a current research project with NHS Cornwall using the idea of AI collaboration to assist with dementia care in real environments.
Research Output: Video of live performance
Contextual information: Information document and software code
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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