Towards an Equitable Social VR

走向公平的社会虚拟现实社会虚拟现实(SVR)构建了一个与物理世界平行的数字世界，通过现代沉浸式虚拟现实(VR)技术实现远程社会参与。这种社会参与不仅严格限于传统的社会互动，而且最近还扩大到包括远程参与培训、工作和服务交付等活动。这个数字平行世界为更多地纳入目前被物理世界边缘化的个人提供了重要机会，从而扩大了进入数字经济的途径。SVR是一项迅速崛起的技术，在全球大流行中它的采用速度加快了。然而，迄今为止，对于目前因残疾或与年龄相关的能力丧失而面临数字访问障碍的用户，对SVR的可及性和包容性要求的研究有限。作为一个社会，我们正处于一个关键时刻，在技术仍处于形成阶段的情况下，包容性和无障碍的概念可以被嵌入到SVR中。未来，公平的社会VR解决了确保SVR平台对残疾人和老年人具有无障碍和包容性的必要性，从而使平台在促进这些人口群体的生活质量方面的潜力得到充分实现。该项目将实施一项研发方案，目的是实现SVR包容性框架：一系列正式的指导和工具，旨在促进残疾人和老年用户平等参与SVR。该项目将考虑到能力丧失的各种表现，包括视觉、听力、行动能力、灵活性、认知(学习困难)和精神健康的神经多样性方面，以及能力丧失的共同发生。

Towards an Equitable Social VRSocial Virtual Reality (SVR) constructs a digital parallel to the physical world, enabling remote social engagement mediated by modern immersive Virtual Reality (VR) technology. This social engagement is not strictly limited to conventional social interaction, but has also recently expanded to include activities such as remote participation in training, work, and service delivery. This digital parallel world offers significant opportunities for greater inclusion of individuals who are currently marginalised by the physical world, thereby widening access to the Digital Economy. SVR is a rapidly emerging technology and its pace of adoption has accelerated in the global pandemic. However, to date, there has been limited research examining the accessibility and inclusion requirements of SVR for users who currently face digital access barriers due to a disability or age-related capability loss. As a society, we sit at a critical juncture where concepts of inclusion and accessibility can be embedded into SVR while the technology is still in its formative stage.Towards an Equitable Social VR addresses the need to ensure that SVR platforms are accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities and older people, thus allowing for the potential of the platforms in contributing to the quality of life of these population groups to be realised in full. The project will undertake a programme of R&D with the aim of delivering the SVR Inclusion Framework: a collection of formalised guidance and tools serving to facilitate equal participation in SVR for disabled and older users. The project will take into account the whole spectrum of capability loss manifestations, including vision, hearing, mobility, dexterity, and neurodiversity aspects of cognition (learning difficulties) and mental health, as well as the co-occurrence of capability loss.