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Contemporary museums increasingly incorporate technology into exhibits, allowing visitors to engage with information in different ways and in greater depth. One such technology utilized is the digital tabletop. This thesis describes ʔeləw̓k̓ʷ — Belongings, an interactive tangible tabletop at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. The tabletop was designed to communicate the continuity of Musqueam culture, convey the complexity of belongings excavated from an ancient Musqueam village site, and reconnect those belongings to traditional practices and oral histories through tangible interactions with the table. In this thesis, I offer a case study of the collaborative design process shared among the researchers, curators, and the exhibit Advisory Committee, and I highlight key design decisions that resulted from this collaboration, showcasing how cultural values can be shared through tangible interactions. I use this case study to contextualize three collaborative publications on ʔeləw̓k̓ʷ — Belongings, the research outcomes of this project.

Proceedings of Graphics Interface 2015, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Canada, 3 - 5 June 2015, 187-194, Community and social relationships are an important part of yoga and meditation despite the fact that they are commonly perceived as solitary activities. Family members and loved ones often share activities and experiences over video chat technology to sustain their relationships across distance, and we wondered if similar technology could allow for yoga and meditation partners to share their practice remotely. In our study, sixteen participants completed yoga and meditation sessions over distance and participated in semi-structured interviews about their experience. Our results show that video chat can support synchronous yoga and meditation over distance through seeing and hearing one's remote partner. Both video and audio play an important role in creating a sense of remote presence. Yet there are space issues, camera challenges, and issues with a lack of touch for instructional purposes. Future video chat systems for synchronous yoga should consider ways to improve these issues while balancing the need to keep technology in the background.