'Keeping our Faith Alive': Investigating Buddhism Practice during COVID-19 to Inform Design for the Online Community Practice of Faith

Title of the Paper

"‘Keeping our Faith Alive’: Investigating Buddhism Practice during COVID-19 to Inform Design for the Online Community Practice of Faith"

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and its application in religious and spiritual practices
• Keywords: Spirituality, faith community practice, Buddhism, video-mediated communication, online faith practice, technological spirituality

Research Background and Problem Statement

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  • The isolation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted global religious and faith communities, forcing individuals to rely on online video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) to stay connected.
  • While these technologies (e.g., video conferencing tools) provided convenience for online faith practices, they also revealed technical limitations, particularly in supporting the spiritual and faith experiences of these communities.
  • Existing HCI research on supporting religious and spiritual practices remains limited, especially in exploring technological support for polytheistic or non-monotheistic faiths.

• Significance:

  • Religious and spiritual practices have profound implications for improving mental health and fostering social connections.
  • Understanding how to design technologies to better support faith communities can not only enhance individual spiritual well-being but also strengthen community resilience and cohesion.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Inspired by Buddhist practices and the authors' personal research experiences, this study explores how technology can support faith community practices.
  • A literature review revealed that many existing technologies, such as video conferencing applications, were repurposed during the pandemic but were not originally designed for religious or spiritual activities. Further research is needed to understand their psychological, physical, and community-level impacts.

Solution

• Methods or Solutions:

  • A qualitative research approach was adopted, utilizing structured interviews, autoethnography (the authors' own experiences), and reflexive thematic analysis to explore the experiences of Buddhist faith community members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The study examined the impact of video conferencing tools (e.g., Zoom) and other technologies on online Buddhist practices and provided design insights for improving such technologies.

• Innovative Contributions:

  • This study is the first to focus on the online practices of Buddhism, a non-monotheistic faith, offering a new perspective for HCI research on religious and spiritual interactions.
  • It established a novel approach combining technological spirituality, Tangible Embodied Interaction (TEI), Soma Design, and "More-than-Human Worlds" to explore innovative digital interaction designs for faith communities.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Buddhists to understand changes and challenges in individual and community practices.
  2. Combined the authors' ethnographic reflections as community members to deeply interpret participants' experiences.
  3. Used NVivo and thematic analysis to extract key themes.
  4. Proposed design guidelines for online spiritual practices, offering potential technological solutions for faith communities.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  • Discoveries:

    • Participants highly valued a sense of community belonging and rhythm in faith practices both before and during the pandemic.
    • While Zoom temporarily met the need for connection during the pandemic, it also posed several challenges, such as audio and interaction delays, privacy concerns, and a diminished sense of spiritual experience.
    • Screen-based and video-mediated interactions were perceived as distractions, unsuitable for religious or spiritual contexts.

  • Proposals:

    • Nine key design considerations were proposed, including shifting from screen-based interactions to designs with greater tactile and embodied engagement, enhancing a sense of community, and improving rhythm synchronization experiences.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages:

  • Enhanced sensitivity to the needs of faith communities, overcoming the limitations of traditional tools like Zoom.
  • Provided specific directions for multi-sensory design, such as using augmented symbolic objects and connected devices to foster spiritual connections.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Tools like Zoom and WhatsApp only partially met the needs for faith-based interactions but failed to fully support the core values of Buddhist community practices (e.g., rhythm, synchronization, sensory experiences).

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:

    • The sample was limited to a Buddhist community in Northern England, which may affect the generalizability of the findings.
    • The study design may have been influenced by the subjective experiences of the first author as a community member.

  • Future Directions:

    • Further development of technology platforms tailored for religious and spiritual practices through co-design.
    • Expanding innovations in non-screen-based interaction designs, such as wearable devices and IoT-enhanced prayer objects.
    • Exploring multimodal designs related to "More-than-Human Worlds" to better encompass interactions between believers, nature, and the supernatural.

This paper holds significant academic value for the integration of HCI and spiritual practices. It not only expands the field of religion-technology convergence but also provides concrete directions for future co-design efforts in faith-based community practices.