Investigating how a combination of emerging technologies and events could be used to influence social change.

Introduction

The LGBTQ+ community has long made use of events as a show of expression. These events have helped to give this marginalised group a voice and help them gather support. Now with the advancement of technologies new events capabilities have the potential to further this change. This research proposal explores some of the ways this change is happening, and considerations needed as part of this.

Research Framing

It is widely accepted that events can be used to advance social justice through giving marginalised groups an expressive voice (Vorobjovas-Pinta & Hardy, 2020) but they can also increase injustices by negatively impacting marginalised societies due to outcomes intended or otherwise, such as displacement caused by mega events (Butler & Aicher, 2015). Events are not alone in influencing social justice, the internet has and continues to be an influence on social justice producing both positive and negative outcomes (Roberts, 2022).

Furthermore, when the internet was created it was done so to make the world more connected through sharing knowledge (CERN, 2022). Since its inception use cases for the internet have grown exponentially and are now ingrained in almost every aspect of life. One of the most recent advances in this technology has seen the creation of decentralised and virtually augmented realities such as Decentraland (Decentraland, 2022) or Over The Reality (Over, 2022), which have created the opportunity to create oneself in virtual reality and experience events this way. These differ from traditional digital events due to their immersiveness, something not achieved through standard text and video communications (Nish, 2021). This immersiveness is so prevalent now that one could almost class using the internet in this way as an event experience in and of itself, one in which true and meaningful friendships can be formed (Munn, 2011). This is because a correlation exists, when a person is at an event they feel a higher sense of emotion (Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 2007) like when a person uses virtual reality-based technologies (Tian et al., 2021). This heightened sense of emotion could facilitate the hormone released during emotional arousal “primes”. Primes rewire nerve cells to form new memory circuits, thus creating the possibility for experience crossover from virtual reality-based events to real world experiences (Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 2007). 

When looking at which demographics are most ingrained in virtual reality technologies it is the younger demographics, although older generations are users they are not as prevalent (VIZ360, 2019).  Since younger people have high-definition memories they can remember in greater detail, which is likely to influence how they call up memories formed during a virtual reality experience (Ko et al., 2014). When looking at the UK populations sexual identity by age younger demographics make up the largest proportion of LGBTQ+ communities (Statista Research Department, 2022), which will form the focus of this research. 

The LGBTQ+ community as a group makes use of both physical and internet-based events. They make use of physical pride events where people belonging to the LGBTQ+ community can express themselves freely without fear of judgment (Travel Gay, 2022). LGBTQ+ communities also make use of internet-based events for the same reasons whilst favouring the anonymity the internet provides ​​(Mehra et al., 2004). This is not to say that virtual events have taken over from physical events, rather they are used in unison to further grow the LGBTQ+ community (Alex, 2021). Often the internet has been used to complement what happens in the real world rather than replace one reality with another (Porter, 2014). As virtual reality technology has become more available it has seen an increase in events hosted by and for the LGTBQ+ community in virtual reality spaces (Jaehnig, 2022). As Mehra et al states in order to understand this and what impacts user goals and practices of emerging technologies they need to be studied in their context of use, one way in which to do this is through the application to events (2004).

Events have been pivotal in drawing attention to social justice issues such as the 2022 world cup drawing attention to how members of LGBTQ+ are poorly treated in Qatar (Skey, 2022). Due to these concerns many people from LGBTQ+ communities have skipped the event fearing hostility (NBC, 2022), contradicting FIFA’s stance of football being for everyone (FIFA, 2018). Learning how LGBTQ+ communities interact with virtual technologies would help clarify if they could be used to provide safe alternatives from events hosted in locations with restrictive views towards marginalised communities.

It is the aim of this research to investigate if LGBTQ+ communities can use a combination of emerging technologies and events to further their aim of social equality; and if the learnings and experiences from these events influence the user’s life following the experience.

Research contribution

The research will contribute to the understanding of how a combination of emerging technology and events are used by marginalised societies, specifically the LGBTQ+ community, and if these technologies are considered meaningful in helping them add value to their everyday lives (Mehra et al., 2004). It will do this by considering how social issues impacting the LGBTQ+ communities, such as isolation, could be addressed with events using emerging technologies that promote inclusivity and community creation (Pierce, 2021). And, understanding how learnings from within such events could be transposed to the real world for real life application and learning opportunities. This work will also further the works of Munn and his understanding of how friendships are formed across virtual realities by providing a new perception of how such technologies can influence emotions, a key part of the friendship forming process (2011). The events that will be the focus of this research are pride events. These events currently exist in both the physical and virtual worlds with a large calendar of events that happen throughout the year, this will make data gathering easier due to more potential research participants and opportunities (travel Gay, 2022).

The research will further the knowledge around how netnographic research methods can be used to understand online users’ behaviour. Due to pride events happening internationally this research offers the opportunity to contribute to the low amount of work done using netnographic research methods on an international context. Making use of netnographic capabilities for an unobtrusive look at digital cultures and user’s everyday lives will provide an insight into the LBGTQ+ communities use of emerging technologies at events and how this influences their everyday lives. Helping to add to the low amount of research done using netnographic methods; specifically on international digital events of marginalised communities (Heinonen & Medberg, 2018). 

Finally, the research will contribute to understanding of how the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is influenced by contributing the event experience of using technology as a new factor of consideration (Moghavvemi et al,2012).

References

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