WIIT’s Metaverse Creation Lab was a first in-house creative lab dedicated to women, non-binary and diverse gender creators, organized by Women in Immersive Tech Europe, and funded by the WIIT Meta Grant.
WOMEN IN IMMERSIVE TECH EUROPE
Women in Immersive Tech Europe is a European NGO that wants to break barriers and be an inspiration for Women in Immersive Technologies all over the world. The WIIT community is a place to connect, meet like-minded women and underrepresented groups from across Europe and beyond, and find the resources to learn and grow.
WIIT’S METAVERSE CREATION LAB
WIIT’s Metaverse Creation Lab was a month-long series of workshops around the definition and representation of “self” in a digital context as well as around aspects of responsible creation for online, social XR spaces. The workshop was headed by Sara Lisa Vogl, Co-Founder of WIIT, along with Metaverse experts.
It was centered around building a virtual avatar that might express a female or diverse identifying individual better in comparison with existing models whilst above all establishing a sense of safety in the metaverse.
As Sara Lisa Vogl specified, “Individual self-expression in immersive, online social spaces as well as learning new skills and creating content with new peers is at the heart of this Lab. With Meta’s funds, we at WIIT want to support a diverse group of people to participate in the responsible creation of the Metaverse.“
The lab enabled ten women, non-binary and diverse gender individuals to create their unique, virtual identity.
➣ ENGAGEMENT OF PARTICIPANTS
Start March/April
Participants and Mentors got to know each other on a Zoom call and the Lab Team, as well as its participants, were introduced to each other.
Intensive kick-off week plus 3 single days in the following weeks
An intensive kick-off week got participants started and the first exchange could be fostered. Sara Lisa along with other Mentors gave inspirational and educational workshops during that week as well as on the 3 additional dates. The group exchanged and was mentored for the full duration of the month on Discord by five Mentors. To foster exchange and connections WIIT ambassadors and co-founders joined the group for several events and on Discord.
During the last 9 days, participants were able to finish and polish their work under the guidance of the Mentors on Discord before the exhibition.
Final Event
To present and promote the created work the Lab ended with an Exhibition Party presenting the participants’ Avatars. You can watch the recording here:
