With or Without Permission: Site-Specific Augmented Reality for Social Justice

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of site-specific augmented reality as a tool for social justice activism, highlighting opportunities, challenges, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Contribution

It introduces a collection of artifacts and an interactive database to inspire activists and researchers in leveraging AR for social justice efforts.

Findings

AR can reveal hidden histories and re-imagine monuments

Challenges include ownership, accessibility, and collaboration with marginalized communities

Workshop aims to foster interdisciplinary discussion and resource sharing

Abstract

Movements for social change are often tied to a particular locale. This makes Augmented Reality (AR), which changes how people perceive their surroundings, a promising technology for social justice. Site-specific AR empowers activists to re-tell the story of a place, with or without permission of its owner. It has been used, for example, to reveal hidden histories, re-imagine problematic monuments, and celebrate minority cultures. However, challenges remain concerning technological ownership and accessibility, scalability, sustainability, and navigating collaborations with marginalized communities and across disciplinary boundaries. This half-day workshop at CHI 2024 seeks to bring together an interdisciplinary group of activists, computer scientists, designers, media scholars, and more to identify opportunities and challenges across domains. To anchor the discussion, participants will each share one example of an artifact used in speculating, designing, and/or delivering site-specific AR experiences. This collection of artifacts will inaugurate an interactive database that can inspire a new wave of activists to leverage AR for social justice.