Humanizing Technologies: A Survival Toolkit Navigating the Artificial Intelligence Era in Migration Studies

Project Overview

This interdisciplinary project leverages mixed reality (MR), artificial intelligence (AI), migrants’ oral histories, and qualitative research to develop innovative solutions for multifaceted challenges faced by first- and second-generation immigrants. These challenges include cultural differences, generation gaps, communication barriers, career struggles, family dynamics, and mental well-being. The research focuses on enhancing cultural resilience and fostering stronger connections among different generations within migrant communities.

Research Questions

How can we build resilience using novel ideas and technologies, especially in mixed reality (MR), to support the storytelling of migrants’ stories?
How do we create new AI large language models (LLM) that produce more diverse and inclusive text-to-video footage and engage AI technologies meaningfully and ethically?
How can we develop a role model for fellow academics to use the heated debate technologies in migration studies and for social good with less or no bias?

Research Design and Methodology

The project combines interdisciplinary approaches to address the challenges faced by first- and second-generation immigrants. It leverages mixed reality, artificial intelligence, migrants’ oral histories, and qualitative research to explore cultural differences, generation gaps, communication barriers, career struggles, family dynamics, and mental well-being. The methodology includes archival research, immersive media and artificial intelligence in filmmaking, research in large language models, in-depth interviews and oral history, participant observation and ethnography, and qualitative content analysis.

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Principal Investigator: Annie Wan (Associate Professor, Creative Studies, UBCO)

Research Assistant

Ronnie Cheng (Undergraduate Student, Media Studies, UBCO)

Outputs

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Publications

Open-access book chapter secured in Ludic Images: The Moving Image between Game, Play and Interaction, Yearbook of Moving Image Studies (2023). Germany: Büchner-Verlag.

Conferences & Events

"AI for All", presented by Wan, A., RAISE x Amazon Fall Exposition, Seattle, United States, October 14, 2025

"Humanizing Technologies: A Survival Toolkit Navigating the Artificial Intelligence Era in Migration Studies" presented by Annie Wan, UW Raise X Amazon Fall Exposition, Seattle, US, October 3, 2025

“Prototyping Principles for Humanizing Technologies: Preliminary Research in Research-Creation Methodologies, Artificial Intelligence, and Mixed Reality for Migration Studies”, presented by Annie Wan, APARN: Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1–3, 2025

"Prototyping Principles for Humanizing Technologies: Preliminary Research in Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Reality for Migration Studies," presented by Anni Wan, CMS Research Conference 2025, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, May 1-2, 2025.

Website

Access the project website: https://humanizingtech.space/

VR Experiences

Journey #1: A user explores a surreal theatre where highlighted piano keys awaken playful babies of contrasting natures, creating a whimsical musical scene. As keys are pressed, babies pop and interact, sometimes fighting or friends, adding lively chaos. When too many babies gather, the scene dissolves into the remnants of HK’s old airport, planes crashing, restoring the loop of enchantment and chaos.

Journey #2: A chaotic yet cozy North American living room, dimly lit and cluttered with toys, invites interaction as a flickering TV hints at hidden worlds. Suddenly, we’re at a poignant airport scene, bidding farewell to crying loved ones, fading into the distance. With a remote, we navigate surreal channels, switching from Hong Kong popular music to hockey games, while each press unlocking a new, immersive world in endless rotation.

Journey #3: A split scene reveals bustling, busy Hong Kong on the left and quiet Vancouver on the right, symbolizing a migrant’s contrasting world. Over time, Vancouver’s calm transforms into vibrant detail, mirroring growing familiarity and comfort. As the city stabilizes by the army, the once-blurred Hong Kong fades, echoing how migrants blend their origins with new beginnings.

Journey #4: A single, shuddering sigh condenses into a tarnished coin on a shore of erased memories. Picking it up, the character is flung into the interior of a car racing through Hong Kong. The heartbreak of the past becomes the frantic, high-speed escape of the present.