'There's more to it than allure⋯' - Navigating Socio-cultural Roles of Digital Jewellery

Abstract

Over the recent years, digital jewellery has been creatively explored in research and commercial products. However, the symbolic layers of these artefacts which are inherent to traditional jewellery are not yet understood. Exploring the anthropological dimensions of wearable ornaments is necessary for digital jewellery to become enduring assets of personal importance. Drawing on participatory design methods, we conducted an explorative workshop with experts in design, art, and technology (N=16) discussing the socio-technical dimensions of designing interactive jewellery. In this work, we build upon a multidisciplinary framework describing traditional jewellery from an anthropological perspective. We examine whether and how novel digital ornaments fulfil five major socio-cultural roles of jewellery. Our work contributes insights for designing digital jewellery with social relevance and hints new directions for future implementations.