ReFind: Design, Lived Experience and Ongoingness in Bereavement

Abstract

We describe the design and use of ReFind, a handheld artefact made for people who are bereaved and are ready to re-explore their relationship to the deceased person. ReFind was made within a project seeking to develop new ways to curate and create digital media to support ongoingness-an active, dynamic component of continuing bonds. We draw on bereavement theory and care championing practices that enable a continued sense of connection between someone bereaved and a person who has died. We present the design development of ReFind and the lived experience of the piece by the first author. We discuss our wider methodology which includes autobiographical design and reflections on if and how the piece supported ongoing connections, the challenges faced, and insights gained.

Resisting the Medicalisation of Menopause: Reclaiming the Body through Design

“…The cocoon could also learn from use and start initiating a gentle, playful push and not just providing relief. Wallace et al's [101] ReFind could inspire a version of the cocoon to revisit the bodily experiences with menopause of a loved one, after capturing their felt experiences [16].…”

Information science and the inevitable: A literature review at the intersection of death and information management: An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

“…In addition to developing design concepts and studying users, many works acknowledge and explore the complexity of the intersection of death and technology, such as the relevance and influence of different ages and cultural backgrounds (Bos, 1995; Foong, 2008; Odom et al, 2018; Uriu et al, 2006; Uriu & Okude, 2010; van den Hoven et al, 2008), the entanglement of interactive technology and spiritual death practices (Uriu et al, 2018, 2019), and the curatorial aspect of such artifacts (Wallace et al, 2020). Works have also touched upon broad legal, ethical, technical, and professional issues that affect information systems (Boscarioli et al, 2017; Maciel & Pereira, 2015), such as the social influence of technologically mediated relationships with the dead (van Ryn et al, 2017) or the adoption of death‐related technologies for digital archeology (Graham et al, 2013).…”

“…As examples of thanatosensitive design in practice, several works develop digital artifacts to support the honoring and mourning processes. Some digital artifacts serve communication between mourners (van den Hoven et al, 2008) while others provide pictorial representation to digital memorials (Bos, 1995; Chaudhari et al, 2016; Odom et al, 2018; Uriu & Odom, 2016; Uriu & Okude, 2010; Wallace et al, 2020) or a combined representation of physical and digital remains of someone deceased (Uriu et al, 2018). The artifacts differ in their various focuses (e.g.…”

Breathing Scarf: Using a First-Person Research Method to Design a Wearable for Emotional Regulation

“…They argue that co-designing with craftspeople, engineers, and health practitioners from the beginning of the design process creates more interesting and aesthetically pleasing pieces of wearable technology. Wallace et al [105] developed a piece of jewelry that rotated through images of a deceased person that gives the user personal emotional values and significance with the piece of wearable technology. Frey et al [27] developed a pendant where the wearer aligns their breath with the fading LEDs; a similar strategy to our use of ATB, yet we delve deeper into personal preferences regarding the public visibility of emotional data.…”