Enabling eudaimonic experiences in collaborative and communicative AR and VR, via seamful interfaces.

This PhD topic aims at studying the enablement and enhancement of eudaimonic experience in collaborative and social AR/VR environments. "Eudaimonia" denotes experiences which are perceived as meaningful, and as having value-for-life. The term is distinguished from the more commonly used "hedonia", denoting pleasurableness. It has been argued that this distinction is important for HCI research by Mekler and Hornbaek among others.

To achieve this I propose to investigate the concept of "seamful" interfaces in AR and VR. These interfaces, by contrast with seamless interfaces, do not aim to make themselves invisible. Rather, seamful design makes the device visible, exposes limitations and makes these available for exploitation. Seamful design has been shown to encourage users to reflect upon, adapt and appropriate tools and interfaces to their own ends. Seamful design strategies aim to maximise a sense of ownership, and support increased expressiveness, developed by users in directions which could not be anticipated by designers. In all this, a seamful approach seems highly suited to applications aiming at supporting eudaimonic experience, and one goal of this research will be to test that prediction.