Can we have spiritual experiences on-line?

ABSTRACT

Contemporary user interfaces emphasize attributes such as rapid delivery of information, immediate notification of events, real-time awareness, scope of visibility, and command and control. The user is poised for knowledge, power, and action.In this SIG, we invite members of the CHI community to help us explore a different area of human comprehension and action. We are concerned about issues of spiritual experience in the use of computers. What kinds of designs and electronic environments might permit, support, or augment spiritual experiences -- by individuals, and especially by groups of people who share a spiritual tradition?Curiously, we have not been able to find any publications relevant to this topic. We suspect that there is work going on in this area, and but we may not know how to search for it.We plan to conduct the SIG in three parts. The first part will be a plenary presentation of the topic, with a relatively formal, panel-like group discussion. In the second part of the session, we will change the "voice" in which we speak to a relatively quieter, contemplative mode, splitting into groups of fewer than ten people each. The groups may begin their discussions with ideas from the plenary part of the session, or they may immediately take up questions and experiences from their own membership. We will ask the small groups if they want to reconvene into a final plenary session to report back on their new understandings. Alternatively, we may ask people from each of the small groups to record their understandings or conclusions for us. If the outcomes appear to be of interest to the larger CHI community, we will write a report for SIGCHI Bulletin.