Lessons from AR Memorialization:
Artists' and Activists' Approaches to Responsible AR Development

Presenters:
Payton Croskey, Ana M. Cárdenas
PhD students Media Arts and Technology UCSB
Jennifer Jacobs (Assistant Professor, Media Arts and Technology, UCSB)
Project Collaborators:
Emilia Yang (Assistant Professor of Art and Design, University of Michigan)
Kai Thaler (Assistant Professor, Global Studies, UCSB)
Tobias Höllerer (Professor, Computer Science, UCSB)

Augmented reality (AR) technologies are increasingly becoming more pervasive. The technical potential of AR to merge digital and physical mediums opens new avenues to support socially meaningful applications. However, researchers, development communities, policymakers, and activists highlight concerns about the ethical and cultural impact of AR development. We will present our work examining the use of AR for human rights memorialization –- preserving and conveying memories of human rights violations and resistance. By studying eight AR memorialization projects created by artists, documentarians, and activists, we analyze how practitioners navigate the challenges of portraying sensitive narratives and engaging with marginalized communities. We will present our findings on how AR supports memorialization practices by enabling spatial metaphors, interactive storytelling, and collaborations with impacted communities.

Our results highlight design strategies to uphold ethical principles, including safeguarding audiences and communities from (re) traumatization, ensuring representation without direct participation, and fostering technical agency and ownership of digital assets.