Virtual puppetry: assisting the elder's life review.

Abstract

This paper will describe "VoicingElder", an expressive storytelling platform for the senior population, using virtual puppets. VoicingElder combines reminiscent oral storytelling with virtual puppetry to develop a deeper understanding of self-worth. This form of storytelling through puppets is inspired by traditional Korean shamanistic ritual and the philosophy of han. VoicingElder aims to fuse Korean shamanistic ritual and twenty-first century virtual interactive technology to examine the current state of elder hood in Western culture, and to contribute in positive ways to the new elder hood that we face today.