Abstract

Keywords: Avatar, Storytelling, Digital Immortality, Life-Review, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Palliative Care, Thana technology, Embodiment, Korean Shamanism

The VoicingHan project is an avatar storytelling platform designed for patients with advanced cancer receiving palliative care at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center. A Korean concept, “Han” reflects a paradoxical state of consciousness combining an extreme state of grief with a great hope for overcoming a seemingly impossible situation. We situate Han in a special and holistic cognition found among patients in the palliative care program who confront the critical issue of mortality, and the human dilemma in connecting our physical and spiritual domains. VoicingHan supports terminally ill patients by using oral storytelling as an artistic medium, facilitating patients’ interactive performances while promoting autonomous creativity to support “patient activation” or “patient-centered care.” In addition, the Avatar video, sound data of stories, and motion capture data will remain as an important patient and family legacy. This paper will discuss the VoicingHan project as an approach to dealing with mortality and potentially mitigating existential suffering for palliative care patients in the digital age.

• Semi Ryu is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Kinetic Imaging, VCU Arts (Virginia Commonwealth University, USA), and a joint appointed associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, VCU School of Medicine. Ryu earned a BFA from the Korean National University of Arts, MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is finishing up her PhD in Doctoral program of Information and Knowledge Society, UOC, Barcelona.
  Since 2002, Ryu has been working on virtual puppetry based on Korean ritual and oral storytelling. Her 3D animations, interactive artworks and papers have been presented at International venues of screenings, exhibitions, performances and publications in more than 20 countries, including Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Transmediale (Berlin), Videobrasil (Sao Paulo), Antonin Artaud space (London), ISEA, SIGGRAPH, the journal article “Ritualizing Interactive Media, from Motivation to Activation” (Technoetic Arts, Intellect Ltd), the book chapter “Sensing without Sensing”-The Point of Being (Cambridge Scholars), the journal article “Virtual Bodies in a Dramatic Paradox” (Virtual Creativity, Intellect Ltd), etc. Supported by VCU Presidential Research Quest Fund since 2014, Ryu has been working on Avatar projects for community engagement. Her transdiciplinary project “VoicingElder: Avatar Life-Review for Older Adults” has been presented in international venues of art, gerontology, drama therapy, and HCI. Ryu is the recipient of VCU Arts faculty award of distinguished achievement in Research, and had her TEDxRVA talk, “Virtual Reality for Han” at 2017. In 2018, She received “Massey cancer center” grant to support her current project VoicingHan: avatar life-review for palliative care, in collaboration with Dr. Del Fabbro and Dr. Noreika.
• Dr. Danielle Noreika is the Medical Director of Palliative Services and an Associate Professor of Medicine in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care, USA. Dr. Noreika also serves as the Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship. She received her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine and completed her Residency in Internal Medicine at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. After completing residency she remained active duty in the US Navy prior to honorable discharge after almost 10 years of service in order to pursue fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at VCU in 2009. Dr. Noreika has published peer reviewed articles as well as book chapters on palliative care, quality of life, and symptom management. Her areas of focus are applying technology to palliative care (telemedicine, Project ECHO, and the Avatar project) and education of the future palliative physician workforce.

Full text (PDF) p. 174-180