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

Work in progress.

Project Status

This project is currently in the Planning phase.

Discover other Bridging Divides projects
Discover other UBC projects from the Bridging Divides research program.

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