Periodic Reporting for period 1 - XR4Human (The Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR Project)
Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30
eXtended Reality (XR) technologies have within a few years moved from lab-based research to a common-place consumer item. Indeed, the benefits of and the possibilities that XR technologies offer to promote and enhance are prolific. As with other emerging technologies, however, the use and eventual ubiquity of XR technologies bring with them potential risks that have not existed before. Of particular importance are new ethical, and associated safety, privacy, security challenges and interoperability issues that needs to be considered now. Developing the foundations to ensure that Europe is sufficiently equipped to leverage these opportunities through skillful navigation of new challenges is the rationale for XR4HUMAN.
The MAIN OBJECTIVE of the project is to co-create living guidance on ethical and related policy, regulatory, governance, and interoperability issues of XR technologies within a European community of practice. This main objective will be operationalized through the following specific objectives:
EXPLORE (i) ethical issues; and (ii) related regulatory and governance issues;
GUIDE companies and regulators through (i) Interoperability Guidance Document; (ii) a European Code of Conduct for
Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR Technologies; (iii) recording and demonstrating the practical application of the XR Code of Conduct;
EQUIP companies and regulators with an online repository of test cases to allow developers to demonstrate evidence of adherence to best practices;
EQUIP and GUIDE users through a rating system and educational materials;
ENGAGE companies and other stakeholders (i) to enhance the uptake of the XR Code of Conduct, the Guidance for Interoperability, and the empowerment of end-users; and (ii) to establish a permanent digital European Forum to facilitate stakeholder dialogue on issues of ethics and interoperability.
The MAIN OBJECTIVE of the project is to co-create living guidance on ethical and related policy, regulatory, governance, and interoperability issues of XR technologies within a European community of practice. This main objective will be operationalized through the following specific objectives:
EXPLORE (i) ethical issues; and (ii) related regulatory and governance issues;
GUIDE companies and regulators through (i) Interoperability Guidance Document; (ii) a European Code of Conduct for
Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centered XR Technologies; (iii) recording and demonstrating the practical application of the XR Code of Conduct;
EQUIP companies and regulators with an online repository of test cases to allow developers to demonstrate evidence of adherence to best practices;
EQUIP and GUIDE users through a rating system and educational materials;
ENGAGE companies and other stakeholders (i) to enhance the uptake of the XR Code of Conduct, the Guidance for Interoperability, and the empowerment of end-users; and (ii) to establish a permanent digital European Forum to facilitate stakeholder dialogue on issues of ethics and interoperability.
During the first reporting phase, significant progress was made across several work packages. WP1 developed a stakeholder engagement strategy and produced a report on related activities, also launching the XR4Human Forum. WP2 released a comprehensive analysis of ethical frameworks and risks, which was published in Open Research Europe. WP3 completed a manuscript detailing current XR policy discussions. WP4 generated a report on prevailing standards and industry requirements. WP6 identified exemplary use cases through a dedicated report, and introduced the Experience Library platform. WP7 presented an extensive review of XR ethical practices, ethics assessment methods, and societal impacts of XR solutions. WP8 formulated a communication strategy, established XR4Human branding, and premiered the project's promotional video; it also initiated the project's website and social media presence. WP9 outlined various management plans covering data, risk, quality, knowledge, and innovation. It's important to note that WP5 had no deliverables in this period.
Milestone 1 the XR4HUMAN forum and Milestone 2 the library of good practice, which was renamed to the XR4HUMAN Experience Library are both key to ensure further uptake of the main deliverable of XR4Human, that is the Code of Conduct for Equitable, Inclusive, and Human-Centred XR. There is no doubt that both these types of digital platforms already have delivered promising results in terms of creating valuable and lasting quadruple-helix of industry-consumers-regulators-academia interaction. This interaction is key as we move forward to help accelerate an ethical and human-centred development process for hardware and software manufacturers.
The development of an Interoperability map to better convey the connections between the different elements of the technological landscape, is another key need to ensure further uptake of XR4Humans main outputs. This is an interactive visual tool to enable diverse stakeholders to more easily understand the need for and how to improve interoperability, an essential part to ensure that the European ecosystem can benefit technically and commercially from highly usable and inclusive systems.
For the first time ever, these technologies and their impact on research integrity were discussed during a pre-conference workshop organized by XR4HUMAN at the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity (https://wcri2024.org/). XR4HUMAN’s workshop was entitled “Workshop 5: Towards an equitable, inclusive, and human-centered development, production and use of extended reality technologies” (https://wcri2024.org/pre-conference-workshops/) and it is expected that it will magnify the outreach of the project’s communicative activities. It is important that this pre-conference workshop was well-aligned with the thematic focus of the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity with its strategic approaches on how to expand the positive effects of research integrity to processes that produce translation and social innovation (https://wcri2024.org/focus-track/).
The development of an Interoperability map to better convey the connections between the different elements of the technological landscape, is another key need to ensure further uptake of XR4Humans main outputs. This is an interactive visual tool to enable diverse stakeholders to more easily understand the need for and how to improve interoperability, an essential part to ensure that the European ecosystem can benefit technically and commercially from highly usable and inclusive systems.
For the first time ever, these technologies and their impact on research integrity were discussed during a pre-conference workshop organized by XR4HUMAN at the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity (https://wcri2024.org/). XR4HUMAN’s workshop was entitled “Workshop 5: Towards an equitable, inclusive, and human-centered development, production and use of extended reality technologies” (https://wcri2024.org/pre-conference-workshops/) and it is expected that it will magnify the outreach of the project’s communicative activities. It is important that this pre-conference workshop was well-aligned with the thematic focus of the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity with its strategic approaches on how to expand the positive effects of research integrity to processes that produce translation and social innovation (https://wcri2024.org/focus-track/).