Ethical and Inclusive Virtual Worlds
Working Group
Translating human rights, ethics, safety and inclusion into practical requirements for accessible, human-centric virtual worlds.
For VWA members who want to contribute.
About the group
The group brings together stakeholders across sectors to advance ethical, inclusive and accessible virtual worlds. It connects human rights, safety, democratic participation and meaningful access with practical approaches to design, architecture, implementation and evaluation. Its work spans healthcare, media, culture, education and cities, considering interaction, AI, data governance and assessment to help make virtual environments welcoming and usable for everyone.
The proposal connects the SRIA’s socioeconomic priorities in section 3a, including human rights, safety and participation, with the real-time interaction and accessibility priorities in section 2b. It builds on relevant work from Web 4.0, the XR4HUMAN Code of Conduct, ITU initiatives on AI and virtual worlds, VIWAS, InclusiVRity and Immerse.
What we're working towards
- Identify barriers and needs, map good practices, and develop recommendations for inclusion and ethics in virtual worlds.
- Enable multistakeholder engagement across vertical sectors around human-centric virtual worlds.
- Contribute to SRIA updates, standards and future calls where relevant.
- Translate principles into practical design, architecture, implementation and evaluation requirements covering interaction, AI, data governance and assessment.
Leadership
Chair
Anna Matamala
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Co-Chair
Giacomo Inches
SUPSI (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland)
Board liaison
Laszlo Arnould
Member organisations
Expected outputs
- A unified paper on ethical and inclusive virtual worlds to support the SRIA.
- An online workshop bringing together relevant initiatives and projects.
- Contributions to EU calls, consultations, human-factors work and standards, where relevant.
- Member-led MSCA or COST collaborations, where relevant.
Results & publications
Outputs and publications will be added here as the Working Group progresses.