Co-imagining participatory design in religious and spiritual contexts

Abstract

People with religious and/or spiritual interests have long been digitally connected and have engaged in joint prayer, worship, or meditation. However, the COVID pandemic has accelerated this trend as more religious and/or spiritual activities were technologically mediated. Many of these formats had to be implemented quickly, often with little participation from stakeholders. In this workshop, we aim to bring together scholars and practitioners from different backgrounds, such as religious studies, theology, HCI, and participatory design, to start a conversation about what collaborative technological design and research with religious and/or spiritual communities could look like in the future and what needs to be done to get to such futures. The outcomes of this workshop will be the formation of a transdisciplinary research and design community, the establishment of guiding principles and best practices that can inform research and design methodologies, and the dissemination of this knowledge in collaborative post-workshop publications.