Reflections on the future iteration of the project after showing the interaction video

Last week, I held two events at the CSM's "Quiet Capsule", one to show them the website and the whole project concept, and interview ten stakeholders from different cultural backgrounds to seek their feedback on my project concept. One was to show the interactive video I had created to give them a more visual experience of the project.

The concept website/video was also posted to a group chat to have a sharing session with a Chinese high school student (GenZ) psychology club "MINDUP PSYCHOLOGY CLUB" to get multiple feedback.

I was pleased that the feedback from the university stakeholders was generally positive, and all the people I interviewed thought it was a very creative way to provide an online space for quiet reflection, like a virtual version of the school's "Quiet Capsule", where they could have a place for reflection/meditation/self-talk anytime, anywhere.

Feedback from Chinese high school students was also overwhelmingly positive, saying that the project was an innovative artistic paradigm of interest to them, in line with their individuality as 'residents of the cyber age’ and the current need for an 'epidemic lockdown'.

And they both understand the current technical limitations - that VR effects are not yet fully accessible so immersion is not yet perfectly rendered. And most Gen Zs believe that the spread of VR technology within our generation is something that will happen within the next five years and that VR glasses will become as common as headphones in the future. They say that although it has technical limitations, but the current website concept and interactive videos have provided a clear understanding of what this project is designed to achieve and that it is forward-thinking. 

And a few of the stakeholders gave me feedback that sparked my thinking about the next iteration of the project, and their comments were very useful in pointing out the parts of my project that still needed improvement.

In summary, the main issues are as follows.

1. Questions about security and confidentiality.

Several stakeholders spoke about the security of data in this cyberspace and whether it would reveal their secrets? While this was something I only needed to implement once I had actually set it up, it was certainly central to making others feel comfortable to release negative emotions. Indeed, it was a part of the concept I had previously introduced to stakeholders that were not clearly stated and an ethical statement that my tutors, Zuleika and Richard, constantly reminded me of the need to know when doing mental health-related topics and confidentiality regulations.

Therefore, over the past few days, I have studied many examples of confidentiality statements from psychotherapists and then developed a code of conduct and a confidentiality statement that relates to my own program concept.

2. Thoughts on adding more functional options in the future - guidance on using methodologies, adding psychology classes, and how to develop a community culture.

2.1 Guidance on using methodologies

According to the feedback from some of these stakeholders and my tutor Diana, they had doubts about the way how to confess and which psychological healing should take place in the Cyber Confessional.

My intention was to first create a safe virtual space with beautiful scenery and stress-relieving ASMR white noise where people could do whatever they wanted to do to heal themselves - such as meditation/talking to themselves/self-reflection, like a virtual and upgraded version of the school's 'Quiet Capsule' - providing a suitable virtual online platform.

And when I received this feedback, I found that I could add a guided methodology to help some people who don't know how to go about meditation and self-reflection.

For example, for the next iteration, I will add gently guided audio when users enter the Cyber Confessional.

Recently, I was reading a book called ‘ DR. BURNS Anxiety Self-Help Therapy’, which teaches readers how to customer service every possible anxiety without the use of drugs through over 40 simple, effective techniques. I think my next iteration will be similar to providing users with a similar approach, giving some methodological guidance when people enter the cyber confessional.

2.2 Psychology classes

At the same time, it occurred to me that if I really make this project into an actual product in the future (If the project receives future investments).

I could make it into a popular science platform that would allow many psychology experts and doctors to be stationed on the online platform or application to conduct regular mental health talks and popularize mental health knowledge.

2.3 How to develop community culture

I have been approached by more young Gen Z'ers about building a community culture, which I will consider taking forward in the future.

The project has already set up an Instagram account to promote the event and link with users, and those users who have participated have followed the project on Instagram.

Of course, this way is just the basics and I will be thinking about how to promote a community culture so that mental health becomes a popular topic among Generation Z, where people care about each other's mental health and are not afraid to speak out about their negative emotions, and maybe that day I will have truly achieved my vision for the project.