DESING OPPORTUNITY

In Costa Rica, Sex Workers are off the grid and basic information of their rights is inaccessible to them.

Sex work is not illegal and in fact, drives much (10%) of the “tourism ” (sex tourism) into the country.

Yet, because of the countries very religious stance (anti abortion etc), sex work becomes incredibly taboo and subject to extreme biases, especially in the local social wellfare system.

There is a misconception that they have the same access to civil support as anyone else, whereas in reality if they reveal their work, most basic rights such as health care, education & security are denied to them. Interactions with others in daily life would needless to say, also ceases to exist.

This taboo and most people’s lack of knowledge/care of what this group faces, are major factors in making the sex working group feel excluded and what prevents access to rights/resources.

Kilia aims to reduce this sense of marginalisation by educating people of their reality, offering them a chance to vote for support and sending this data to the government for support.

We try to achieve this by asking the following question: how might we create awareness about the reality of sex workers’ lives among the public, in a way that can push government for greater support”.

Process

Design Method

Experiments

WHAT IS KILIA?

An Interactive Web & App designed for people living in San Jose, it uses a 3D soundscape so one can explore stories of sex workers. One can walk around the sex workers neighbourhood by tilting their phone around, the motion sensor in the phone is programmed to allow you to feel as if you are moving around the neighbourhood itself.

Once you have explored their stories, you will be given an option to vote for a certain topic you feel could do with more support. This data will be presented live to you so you know what others are voting for (live data vis). And eventually the data will be fed to the government.

It is designed to raise awareness in a hyper realistic manner (putting you directly in a real life scenarios through immersive audio). The sole sense of sound (3D sound space), allows our focus to be centred, our imagination to become heightened and more easily to digest new, raw information. Sound can also extend and be the lead to many of our other senses. And lastly, you choose your own pace (you control how you move around), enabling you to digest the stories in your own time and privacy (home). This removes much of the stigma of even having access to such information and allows you to really feel the reality as well as petition for their support.

https://kiliacr.web.app/

TRY IT - ON PHONE OR PC/MAC

Interaction Design, Inclusive Design, Creative Technology
9 Weeks | Feb 2021 | Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design

EXPLORE MORE ENGAGING WAYS TO LEARN, EMPATHISE & ACT. SO BARRIERS OF ACCESS TO BASIC RIGHTS IS THE SAME FOR EVERYONE

Kilia was my attempt to explore more human/emotive and engaging ways to learn, empathise and act for the support of sex workers in Costa Rica. Thereby lowering the barriers of sex workers to access basic rights and be perceived as less of a taboo. I hope that this project will help spread the understanding of sex workers and put them on the map for greater and better designed social care.

Step into a group of sex workers neighbourhood via a 3D audio space & walk around to hear their stories.

FYI: if you try thr URL on your phone you may be able to use the motion sensor for movement rather then the virtual joy stick. (Depends on phone version)

Headphones as essential to experience the 3D audio space.

The choice of sound and a digital rather then physical output was due to 1. In Costa Rica most people do not have advanced smart phones so audio was the best, most accessible medium to use. And due to the pandemic, a physical installation was not an option.

Enjoy! :)

Role: Design Research, Ideation, Prototyping, User Testing, Graphic Design, Concept Video, Visual Design
Tool: Arduino (sensor, multiplayer integration), Unity, three.js, p5, Laser Cutting, Ableton Live, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom Classic
Advisor: Somayeh Ranjbar