Spatial Collapse: Inclusive Design with Big Data

Tricia Wang

The COVID-19 pandemic spaces has led to a spatial collapse--the folding in of different spaces we inhabit into one space. The spatial collapse of 2020 meant that our once separate lives in our homes, work, and everything outside of that--folded into digital space. It may feel like we’ve lost so much as we’ve moved much of what we once did in physical space into digital space, but Tricia argues that if we look back to previous moments in history of spatial collapses, we learn that they always produce new possibilities that would’ve never been possible before. In each moment, entirely new systems, economies, and tools are born out of the disruption caused by spatial collapse. Pain and creativity are well-known bedfellows. Tricia argues that the acceleration of our digitized lives means that we have an opportunity to truly design inclusively with data for more people than before. To do this, we must embrace what she calls Thick Data--the compliment to Big Data. The risk of not rising up to this opportunity to dimensionalize Big Data is that we’ll exacerbate inequality by forcing more people and communities to the whims of biased machines.

Tricia Wang is a tech ethnographer who is driven by the belief that technology must serve humanity. Organizations turn to her to help them see the unexpected human behaviors that can radically shift their business. She is the co-founder of Sudden Compass, a consulting firm that helps organizations solve their most pressing problems around understanding customer behavior. She is a frequent conference keynoter, a pioneer in operationalizing data science with what she calls Thick Data, which she describes in her TED talk. She is a leading authority on digital transformation, building data teams, and responsibilities in personal data usage in artificial intelligence. She is currently focused on personal data, blockchain, and crypto + blockchain accessibility. Her life philosophy is that you have to go to the edge to discover the center. For more information, go to her website www.triciawang.com or follow her on twitter or instagram @triciawang.

The central location of the book “Ready Player One” is The OASIS, a fully embodied VR metaverse that began as a game, but was so compelling, so useful and fun, that everyone - every person, every business, every institution and even every game - had to have a presence there. Sort of like the formative Internet in the 90s. This is fiction, of course, but there are companies today, most notably Facebook and game giant Epic Games (maker of Fortnite), who have announced they are, in fact, building a metaverse. But how shall we define it? Who else is building - or has built - a metaverse? What technology does a metaverse require? What might the terminal form be? On which platforms - AR, VR, Mobile - will these virtual, social spaces manifest, when, and how?

What’s In a Metaverse?

Charlie Fink, XR Consultant, Author, Columnist

Charlie Fink is a Forbes columnist and the author of the critically acclaimed AR-enabled books "Charlie Fink's Metaverse" (2017), and "Convergence, How The World Will Be Painted With Data" (2019) and most recently "Remote Collaboration, Virtual Conferences and the Future of Work" (2020). He teaches XR at Chapman University in Orange, California. As a 28-year-old junior executive at Disney, Fink famously came up with the idea for"The Lion King." In the 1990s, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of VR pioneer, Virtual World Entertainment.Variety calls him “XR’s explainer-in-chief.”In addition to his work as head of story development for Disney Feature Animation during Disney’s second golden age of animation (1985-1992),Fink was Senior Vice President & Chief Creative Officer of AOL Studios(1995-1999), and President of American Greetings Interactive and Blue Mountain (2000-2004). His past experience includes successful exits from several startups. Fink now works as a consultant for some of the leading companies in the XR space, helping them with strategy, corporate storytelling, and executive coaching.

After over 20 years of shaping research, development and practice in mobile devices and services, MobileHCI updates its name and becomes the ACM International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction. As we enter a new decade, this conference series is adapting to reflect the societal and technological transition where mobility has become pervasive and prime to our lives.

Our community and work is ever more relevant as we bring together academics, designers, and practitioners from multiple disciplines to discuss the challenges and future of people interacting with and through technologies, applications, and services in a mobile world.

Attendees will hear from world-leading experts in research talks and workshops; see, touch, and feel new mobile experiences in our demo and poster sessions; as well as be inspired by industry and academic thought-leaders during our panels; while still having time to network and form future collaborations.

MobileHCI 2021 welcomes contributions related to any aspect of mobile Human-Computer Interaction, from technology, to user experience, methodology, theoretical contributions, and beyond. Our conference also solicits proposals for workshops, demonstrations, tutorials, and industrial case study papers. We look forward to seeing you in Toulouse in September 2021!

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