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?

Methods

  • Archival Research
  • Immersive Media and Artificial Intelligence in Filmmaking
  • Research in varies Large Language Model (LLM)
  • In-depth Interviews`Oral History
  • Participant Observation | Ethnography
  • Qualitative Content Analysis
  • Other

Collaborators

UBC Centre for Migration Studies

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

Outputs

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.

Presentations

“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.

Work-in-Progress

4 VR experiences

Project Status

This project is currently in the Data Analysis, Writing and Knowledge Mobilization phase.

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This research was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.