Building Better Community: A You-centralized Experience

Open Access
Article
Conference Proceedings
Authors: Glenn Terpstra

Abstract: Through a metaverse hosted art show we use novel mechanisms to control access to content in virtual spaces. In these spaces where anonymity is the standard, and requiring interaction is secondary to being viewed or received, we explore unique means of service deployment by requiring viewers to create “content” in the form of survey responses and other interactions prior to accessing the show’s content. To strengthen the connection to the virtual space we offer POAP’s to participants to add a layer of accountability and a way of monitoring attendance and interaction on the blockchain. Content moderation is only part of the picture, community moderation viewed as a holistic space is central to evolving sustainable groups which can grow and thrive. Successful meta-worlds still require the translation of real world social practices and constructs to their virtual systems -- not necessarily in the same way they are used in real life, but perhaps in innovative and authentic ways that improve on current practice. The metaverse in its infancy is a perfect place to make large changes to social structures before they are cemented in place. The focus of this research is to explore new ways to provide inclusive education opportunities, invest in the democratization of virtual spaces, and to promote computer skills and literacy. In many current forms, metaverses are inherently non-inclusive because of economic and technological inequality as well as lack of access to Computer Science education resources. We look to disincentivize predatory practices in UX/UI design and service blueprinting, such as dark patterning that subtly create non-inclusive structures. Designing inclusion into a framework implies that a framework or service is inherently non-inclusive. This project challenges this view, and suggests instead that a virtual service should be inherently inclusive, and must be designed in such a way that it avoids the addition of non-inclusive features.

Keywords: Metaverse, Inclusive, Virtual, Art, Blockchain, Experience

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002542

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