The Resound Sphere: Co-Exploring Alternatives for Community Remote Practice of Faith

Abstract

We present the Resound Sphere, a bespoke community-centered technology for supporting remote Religious and Spiritual practices within a Buddhist community. Grounded in a Research through Design inquiry and designed with the participatory engagement of UK Buddhist community members, the Resound Sphere explores alternative ways of connecting remote members in chanting. We reflect on the participatory engagement and how it allowed for a deeper understanding of felt experiences, practices, and community values that progressed our design. Encountering earlier versions of the Resound Sphere, community members advanced the project through four strategies: consolidation, extension, appropriation, and critical reflection. Future work will involve deploying the Resound Sphere in community members’ homes to be used in their daily practices over time. The demo presents a timely opportunity to discuss key considerations with experts in collaborative computing, whilst using the Resound Sphere to speculate on future work in Techno-Spirituality across both HCI and CSCW communities.