Virtual reality offers a potential solution to enable visiting inaccessible cultural heritage sites. We present the design, prototyping and evaluation (n = 6) of a virtual visit to a historic graveyard. The Salla World War II graveyard is located in an inaccessible border zone between Finland and Russia. Our virtual graveyard, accessed through a head mounted display, aimed to create an as accurate as possible simulation of the Salla graveyard, including its atmosphere. Users are enabled to navigate the virtual graveyard and place a candle on a grave. Although the simulation was considered immersive, participants wished for more authenticity and details, e.g. being able to light the virtual candle. The work opens discussion on the need for dignity in the design of virtual experiences for sensitive cultural heritage sites.

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Visiting a virtual graveyard: designing virtual reality cultural heritage experiences

Funerals are irreplaceable events, especially for bereaved family members and relatives. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented many people worldwide from attending their loved ones’ funerals. The authors had the opportunity to assist one family faced with this predicament by webcasting and recording funeral rites held near Tokyo in June, 2020. Using our original 360-degree Telepresence system and smartphones running Zoom, we enabled the deceased’s elder siblings to remotely attend the funeral and did our utmost to make them feel present in the funeral hall. Despite the webcasting via Zoom contributing more to their remote attendances than our system, we discovered thoughtful findings which could be useful for designing remote funeral attendances. From the findings, we also discuss how HCI designers can contribute to this highly sensitive issue, weaving together knowledge from various domains including techno-spiritual practices, thanato-sensitive designs; and other religious and cultural aspects related to death rituals.

Generating the Presence of Remote Mourners: a Case Study of Funeral Webcasting in Japan

While floral tributes are commonly used for the public commemoration of victims of disasters, war, and other accidents, flowers in vases color everyday life. In this research, these features of flowers are intertwined with the recent phenomenon of online memorials to develop a virtual floral tribute concept that includes physical rituals. We designed SenseVase, a smart vase to detect flowers placed in it, and a 3DCG Virtual Memorial that illustrates floral tributes given by people using SenseVases at home. This paper describes how we developed our design concept by reviewing previous literature and social aspects, and presents a video illustrating the concept. To validate the current concept, we interviewed several experts knowledgeable in public commemorations, virtual and online communities, and the floral business. Through a discussion of our findings from the design process and interviews, we propose a new direction for how HCI technology can contribute to public commemoration in addition to personal memorialization.

Floral Tribute Ritual in Virtual Reality: Design and Validation of SenseVase with Virtual Memorial

Interactive technologies for autonomous mental health management are on the rise due to limited therapy access and stigma. However, most commercial mental health apps are neither theory-based nor clinically tested, and psychological theories are not easily accessible to app designers. Thus, it remains unclear if current mobile and VR mental health apps meet therapists’ expectations. To address this gap, we conducted interviews (\(N=11\)) to build an understanding about current therapeutic practices with a focus on emotion regulation and their applicability to mobile apps. We then conducted a systematic app review of 60 mental-health-related mobile and VR apps applying the themes identified in our interviews as an understanding lens. We draw upon the identified discrepancies to pinpoint design implications for better embedding lived therapeutic practice into mental health apps. We contribute by providing a common grounding between therapists and developers on the features and properties of well-being mobile and VR apps.

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The Role of Mobile and Virtual Reality Applications to Support Well-Being: An Expert View and Systematic App Review

This paper addresses graveyards as a context for designing interactive technology, especially pervasive displays and the presentation of information related to graves and the dead. We present our research containing three user studies: a focus group–based study on perceptions of different display technologies in the cemetery context, evaluation of a gravestone display prototype, and a user study with a graveyard navigator prototype. Whereas, HCI research surrounding death has so far largely focused on an individual’s digital remains, our focus is on the physical graveyard setting. We contribute to understanding the potential impacts and opportunities of interactive technology in this design context. Our salient findings highlight the cultural sensitivity and importance of dignity related to the context, unobtrusiveness of the technology, and concerns for privacy and social acceptability. Concepts taking into account these design aspects were of interest for those researching family histories, and visitors seeking improved navigation for the graveyard.

/pdf/exploring-pervasive-displays-for-cemeteries-and-memorial-3xr93gbh6x.pdf

Exploring pervasive displays for cemeteries and memorial sites

The COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 caused the rapid introduction of remote schooling in many countries. This transition caused a variety of challenges to families, encompassing organizing home workspaces, setting up computing equipment, and, for many parents, managing their own remote working in parallel with the schooling arrangements. This paper describes the findings from an online survey (n = 114) and an in-depth interview study (n = 14) conducted in Finland during the COVID-19 remote schooling phase. Focusing on issues surrounding technology usage in the family setting, we report on the array of applications parents and children were required to manage, strategies to share ICT equipment within families, spatial organizational issues and the high levels of flexibility needed from parents and other stakeholders to enable the remote schooling.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3419249.3420155

Practical Family Challenges of Remote Schooling during COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland

HCI research surrounding death has largely focused to an individual's digital remains, with relatively less attention paid to physical memorials, such as graves. We present a prototype interactive gravestone, which aims to blend in seamlessly with traditional stone gravestones. Based on RFID cards inserted into the gravestone, different content is displayed on the gravestone surface. We evaluated the concept though a focus group exploring different types of content displayed on the gravestone, ranging from an individual name, to photographs and an interactive visitors book. Our salient findings show the concept was positively received as a memorial, when designed to match with the dignity of the context.

/pdf/designing-an-interactive-gravestone-display-3h60la3mp8.pdf

Designing an interactive gravestone display

Medical images taken with mobile phones by patients, i.e. medical selfies, allow screening, monitoring and diagnosis of skin lesions. While mobile teledermatology can provide good diagnostic accuracy for skin tumours, there is little research about emotional and physical aspects when taking medical selfies of body parts. We conducted a survey with 100 participants and a qualitative study with twelve participants, in which they took images of eight body parts including intimate areas. Participants had difficulties taking medical selfies of their shoulder blades and buttocks. For the genitals, they prefer to visit a doctor rather than sending images. Taking the images triggered privacy concerns, memories of past experiences with body parts and raised awareness of the bodily medical state. We present recommendations for the design of mobile apps to address the usability and emotional impacts of taking medical selfies.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3379503.3403555

Matilda Kalving

Papers

Practical Family Challenges of Remote Schooling during COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland

Designing an interactive gravestone display

Exploring pervasive displays for cemeteries and memorial sites

Medical Selfies: Emotional Impacts and Practical Challenges

Medical Selfies: Emotional Impacts and Practical Challenges