Michelle Hlubinka, Jennifer Beaudin, Emmanuel Munguia Tapia, John S. An

Abstract

AltarNation allows physically isolated individuals to participate in communities of meditation and tailor their own meditative practices. By lighting candles, users enter a shared virtual community of users represented by a field of stars, each associated with a sound sample of a prayer, song, joy, or concern of another user. Existing practices of individual meditation and candlelight vigils inform this work. This paper describes implementation and design approaches of the AltarNation system.