Graduate Studies

Inclusive Design (MDes)

Amna Azhar

Mixed Reality Storytelling for Social Engagement with Older Adults

Co-designing a mobile-based mixed reality that facilitates storytelling with older adults for the purpose of enriching their social ties as part of my Major Research Project. The system allows creating and sharing of stories with others that can be saved as legacies in the form of 3D mixed reality artefacts.

“Aging is a natural process that brings social and physical challenges among adults, due to which they have to make shifts in habits and routines. Adults belonging to an older age group lose touch with people which provides an opportunity for researchers to think and implement novel ways to engage the population with their loved ones. The advent of technology within the Mixed Reality (MR) space aims to facilitate diverse groups of people to engage in immersive and interactive ways, opening possibilities to address the predicament of aging in an isolated environment. Utilizing participatory design in a virtual setting, inclusive design frameworks and design thinking practices, the goal of my research is to describe existing tools and technologies that use mixed reality then take inspiration and use co-design as a method to plan and build an MR storytelling system enabling successful aging in older adults by cultivating meaningful social connections with friends and family members. See the link for more details.”