2022 Edition

DAY 1 - DECEMBER 10

Human Rights in the Metaverse
International Human Rights Day

Understanding and Protecting human rights in the Metaverse

On the 74th Human Rights day, we are assembling world leaders, technology professionals, global regulators, policy experts, ethicists, civic organizations, researchers, and underrepresented voices. There is a dire need to explore the complexity and convergence of threats to human rights and the need for additional global frameworks, including Immersive Rights and Neuro Rights. While we have not yet fully addressed the challenges of the Internet era, the evolution of the Metaverse and the adoption of immersive technologies introduce novel risks to humans. The discussions will focus on the challenges associated with current innovations and development that require additional rights to maintain human agency, autonomy, and free will. 

9:10 am PST
December 10
15 minutes

Welcome to Day 1 – Human Rights in the Metaverse MSW2022

9:30 am PST
December 10
30 minutes

Opening Keynote: Re-defining Human Rights for the Metaverse

The metaverse is a human rights dilemma. In this internet era, people relinquish their data and human rights without realizing the risks and consequences.

Given the Metaverse will be “the next version of the Internet,” the talk will reflect on the existing challenges, as well as focus on the need for potential new rights.

Session Video

10:05 am PST
December 10
1 hour

Demystifying the metaverse: What is the metaverse, and why does it matter? What should we know today for a better tomorrow?

The Metaverse is a growing network of virtual and augmented digital worlds that exist in parallel with the physical world. There is a lack of consensus around the baseline understanding of what Metaverse brings along wrt risks and opportunities. This talk is to create a common baseline understanding across a multidisciplinary audience.

Session Video

11:10 am PST
December 10
30 minutes

Immersive Marketing in the Metaverse Age: challenges and opportunities in leveraging experiential technologies for a positive social outcome

Companies of all stripes are racing to enter the metaverse, whether that means building experiences there, engaging in gaming, minting NFTs, or selling virtual goods.

Research suggests that XR advertising can be up to 4x more effective than traditional formats.

How far are we from the arrival of the Metaverse, and how should marketers utilize this new medium responsibly to reach consumers in a safe, productive, and private manner?

Session Video

11:45 am PST
December 10
1 hour

Data, surveillance, Identity and interconnected Virtual Worlds

Access to the Metaverse is highly dependent on close-to-the-body hardware such as headsets, hand devices, etc., capable of collecting involuntary biometric data with technologies like movement or eye-tracking. This scenario amplifies privacy, identity, autonomy, and human agency risks.

Where is all of this going to lead us?

Session Video

12:50 pm PST
December 10
30 minutes

Accessibility & Inclusion: Is the Metaverse going to increase the digital Divide?

If we think of the Metaverse as the next paradigm shift for experience on the internet. From a social standpoint, the metaverse has the potential to offer more access and inclusivity across many boundaries. Still, it’s important to be mindful of the equally important possibility of exacerbating the digital divide, given the hardware and connectivity required to participate viably in the Metaverse.

Session Video

1:50 pm PST
December 10
1 hour

Do we need a new framework for Human Rights in the Metaverse?

There is a need for the international community to identify and critique the existing human rights frameworks to potentially enable a secure and interoperable Metaverse. The UN and Global governments have an important role to play in these technological developments, most importantly, virtual worlds infused with artificial intelligence and neuro technologies and studying their impact; to mitigate threats to human rights.

Session Video

2:55 pm PST
December 10
1 hour

Intersections of BCI, AI and XR in creating convergence of virtual and physical worlds.

The interconnected and persistent nature of the metaverse will provide an unprecedented opportunity for connection across environments and devices. Central to users’ experiences will be safety, privacy, and inclusivity, fuelled by AI, enabling the ability to extend reality and traverse freely through virtual environments. One issue that needs particular consideration and will be the focus of this panel is the manipulation of those who enter the metaverse, particularly where interaction with the metaverse is mediated by a brain-computer interface.

Session Video

4:10 pm PST
December 10
30 minutes

AI Ethics and the Implications for the Metaverse

Advances in artificial intelligence and, most especially, generative AI have been coming fast and furious. But what are the risks of this technology developing so quickly? What checks and balances are in place? How can we use AI for social good? How can we protect individuals and communities against its misuse? And what role will AI play in the Metaverse?

Please join us for an insightful look into the practical, ethical, and legal issues around the use of AI in the Metaverse.

Session Video

4:40 pm PST
December 10

Announcement: XR 2030 Policy Fund

We’ll be joined for an exciting announcement from the Minderoo Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to taking on tough, persistent issues with the potential to drive massive change. Learn more about an opportunity for researchers, advocates, and other members of civil society from all over the world to propose and receive funding for projects related to putting the public interest at the center of public policy related to XR.

Minderoo Foundation

We are a modern philanthropic organization. We take on tough, persistent issues with the potential to drive massive change.

4:50 pm PST
December 10
30 minutes

Closing Keynote – Putting Human Rights at the Heart of the Metaverse

The Metaverse epitomizes the human rights dilemma inherent in many emerging technologies. Technology is morally neutral, so how can we ensure that it is used for good and not evil? This talk will focus on how we can develop the metaverse to empower humanity and enhance our lives while avoiding becoming a digital dystopia that facilitates human rights abuses. It will emphasize the importance of ensuring that human rights are put at the very heart of the metaverse and that we prioritize human rights-centered design and regulation.

Session Video

DAY 2 - DECEMBER 12

Digital Culture, Arts, and Media

Metaverse, Virtual Economies, and their impact on Digital Culture, Arts, & Media

Today’s artists and developers are setting a precedent that will be followed by generations. The evolution of the Metaverse highly influences Digital Culture and creative domains. As we build web3 ecosystems and create provenance and ownership of virtual objects and artwork via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), we must build safeguards to mitigate risks. Multidisciplinary artists, creatives, media personalities, journalists, web3 creators, educators, and experts will explore how to incorporate privacy, security, and ethics into the creative process. Together we will attempt to establish how to get it right to create a safe and trustworthy ecosystem.

9:10 am PST
December 12
15 minutes

Welcome to Day 2 – Digital Culture Arts & Media MSW2022

10:05 am PST
December 12
30 minutes

What’s on your mind? How the immersive internet affects how you perceive reality, memory, and emotions

As we are increasingly plugged into virtual worlds, examining how these interactions affect us as human beings will become more important. This panel will examine how interactions in virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality may differ from those happening in the physical world and the effects that has on our brains.

Session Video

11:45 am PST
December 12
1 hour

The Promised Land: risks and opportunities with asset ownership in digital economies

The ability to own assets can change the relationship between individuals and corporations in online environments. This panel will examine the risks and benefits of moving to such a system and if consumers want to own and manage their assets, for example, in games and social media accounts. The implications of intellectual property law and the response from corporations will also be discussed.

Session Video

1:15 pm PST
December 12
1 hour

Stay Alert! Evolving Security, Safety, and Financial Crimes in the Metaverse

While the Metaverse provides a host of new opportunities and innovation springboards, it is already a space that is being explored by bad actors.

What must Individuals and businesses do to ensure they are adequately protected as this next iteration of the internet evolves?

Session Video

2:20 pm PST
December 12
1 hour

Mapping the Metaverse: Or, how to understand the human experience of the Metaverse from the outside-in

The Metaverse is a complexly emergent technical/social assemblage in the earliest stages of growth and adoption. Its evolution depends upon the mindsets and behaviors, hopes and fears of people all over the world.

As such, this panel seeks to answer a simple question: 

How should we study the Metaverse? How can we listen to the voices of those who will shape the Metaverse’s future? 

Together we’ll: 

  • Discover how to understand the current reality and future potential of the Metaverse 
  • Create a blueprint to research the Metaverse’s impact on the worlds of corporate and organizational culture, learning, gaming, and more
  • Develop new–ethical, responsible, and innovative!—research methodologies adequate to the complexity and virtual nature of the Metaverse

Session Video

3:35 pm PST
December 12
1 hour

Whose Influence is it anyway? Influencers, corporate mascots, artificial and virtual identity

Virtual influencers receive up to three times more engagement than traditional influencers. Brands are using them instead of corporate mascots. What effects might virtual influencers have on safety and mental health? Can virtual influencers be leveraged for good and where are we headed with the integrations of AI into virtual influencers?

Session Video

4:35 pm PST
December 12

Announcement: XR 2030 Policy Fund

We’ll be joined for an exciting announcement from the Minderoo Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to taking on tough, persistent issues with the potential to drive massive change. Learn more about an opportunity for researchers, advocates, and other members of civil society from all over the world to propose and receive funding for projects related to putting the public interest at the center of public policy related to XR.

Minderoo Foundation

We are a modern philanthropic organization. We take on tough, persistent issues with the potential to drive massive change.

4:45 pm PST
December 12
30 minutes

Closing Keynote – Ready Player You: New Frontier of Privacy, Security and Digital Identity

In the Metaverse, platforms will be able to profile your physical, emotional, and behavioral states in real-time, leading to unprecedented privacy concerns. At the same time, metaverse technologies are designed to fool your senses, which will enable dangerous new forms of fraud and deception, from predatory advertising to avatar identity theft. What are the risks and how can we protect privacy, identity, and authenticity in the metaverse?

Session Video

DAY 3 - DECEMBER 13

Child Safety and Children's Rights

Protecting children and their rights in the Metaverse

As the holiday season approaches, kids will be receiving gadgets, wearables, VR headsets, and smart toys.

Immersive worlds are rapidly developing, and with them, the Metaverse will likely give rise to new, unforeseen risks and psychological harms.

In an unprecedented effort to put future metaverse development on a safe path, XRSI has brought together youth policy advocates, legislators, technology professionals, civic organizations, parents, educators, and guardians to discuss the risks of immersive technologies.

The Metaverse brings benefits to kids and families in the form of innovative education, therapy, and play. Several companies, lawmakers, and parents will discuss how to harness these positive applications while creating mechanisms such as new laws and frameworks to limit the negative consequences for young users.

 

9:10 am PST
December 13
15 minutes

Welcome to Day 3 – Child Safety & Children’s Rights MSW2022

9:30 am PST
December 13
30 minutes

How will the Metaverse impact the young?

Metaverse technologies are rapidly growing in the consumer market, expanding audience demographics and including young people. What are the benefits for the new generations, and what are the possible risks?

Session Video

10:05 am PST
December 13
30 minutes

The current landscape of virtual worlds for children

The new virtual worlds represent public squares where children and adolescents can meet, exchange experiences, learn and have fun, regardless of their geographical boundaries and social limits.

How do today’s virtual worlds present risks to young users, and what can we do to mitigate these? What are potential future threats to children in the Metaverse?

Session Video

10:40 am PST
December 13
1 hour

Exposing the underbelly of the Metaverse

From ads to trolls to predators, virtual worlds offer anonymity and a lack of accountability for behaviors that target children.

Social media has also fueled new avenues for IRL crimes, including bullying, violence, child pornography, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

As the Metaverse aims to bring us closer together through fully-immersive experiences, children’s long-term cognitive, emotional, physical & social risks must be better understood.

Join our panel of industry experts to catch a glimpse behind the scenes and learn about the dark side of the Metaverse.

Session Video

11:45 am PST
December 13
30 minutes

Advocating for Children’s Rights in the Era of Constant Reality Capture

The Metaverse promises to blur boundaries between reality & virtual worlds. Today, vulnerable populations, children & young adults, experience the most significant risks while navigating these environments. 

Privacy, security & autonomy are critical to developing a child’s identity & sense of self. 

How do we define Children’s Rights in the Metaverse, and how can we safeguard children against potential harm in virtual worlds?

Session Video

12:20 pm PST
December 13
1 hour

The new iteration of the internet needs a new framework for Child Safety

When we refer to young individuals, it’s vital to anticipate the risks, each of which materializing can have a negative long-term impact, considering the native vulnerabilities of this age group.

What are the possible countermeasures in line with guidelines, frameworks, and standards needed to advance this shift?

Session Video

1:50 pm PST
December 13
1 hour

Shared Responsibility for safeguarding the young generations

Should technology providers, parents, and educators share the responsibility of protecting young people? Are they the first line of defense against the risks of using Metaverse platforms?

The panel will focus on how we can promote awareness about controls and mechanisms available to guardians and children for building an inclusive, safe and healthy Metaverse.

Session Video

2:55 pm PST
December 13
45 minutes

Metaverse Safety Week Youth Panel

Since Metaverse might change the lives of the next generation, the perspectives of young people must be included in serious discussions about the future, such as Metaverse Safety Week.

As the American children’s national arts organization and the world’s children’s global arts organization, the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) organizes international youth panels on critical issues at major conferences worldwide.

ICAF’s International Youth Panel for the Metaverse Safety week includes three ICAF Youth Board Members.

  • Evie Felten is a recipient of the Grand Honors Award in Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University CTY. She is in middle school in North Carolina
  • Margot Madison is a high school senior in Massachusetts
  • Praveer Sharan is a freshman at Purdue University’s Computer Science Department.

The panel includes two independent experts:

  • Laalitya Acharya is studying biomedical engineering and political science as a sophomore at Columbia University.
  • Jonathan Kennedy Sowah uses robotics and VR to teach STEM disciplines to schoolchildren in Ghana.

Moderator: Dr. Ashfaq Ishaq, ICAF founder and chairman

Session Video

3:50 pm PST
December 13
30 minutes

Protecting children through virtual time: Lessons from the past and reflections of the future

What do we need to do differently to build a safe Metaverse for Children? Larry Magid, the CEO of ConnectSafely, will provide a historical perspective on online safety. Larry will dive into what we’ve learned from 30 years of online safety and how it does and doesn’t apply to the Metaverse.

Session Video

4:25 pm PST
December 13
1 hour

Safeguarding children in the virtual platforms and the Metaverse

Safeguarding the users of the digital and virtual worlds is of utmost importance in today’s world as the world becomes smaller and more people spend more and more time with unreal worlds that we create with today’s technology. Whether the parents, educators or community at large likes it or not, the teens and youth of today spend far more time socially interacting within a digital/immersive environment than ever before. The generation gap in technology is widening every 2-3 years now with new developments in XR and Web 3.0 and development of extended and immersive virtual technologies. While the governance or even creation of these digital platforms is in infancy, the platforms also pose a risk to vulnerable and young users who need safeguarding principles and protection in place. The purpose of any child safeguarding policy and associated procedures must be to provide clarity to ALL users on how they should engage

with children, young people and vulnerable adults when working for, on behalf of, or in partnership with other users. It must also help in making sure that employees, volunteers and other representatives are protected.

This panel will feature an entrepreneur who runs VR Academy for Children, and a risk management expert. The panel is moderated by one of the XRSI advisors and privacy experts, diving into the issue from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Session Video

5:35 pm PST
December 13
30 minutes

Closing Keynote – Back to the Future: Intentional sesign for a safer Metaverse

Now the metaverse is no longer science fiction it’s time to get serious about making it safe, especially for children. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has developed three core design principles to minimise harms and ensure transparency and accountability are built in.

Session Video

DAY 4 - DECEMBER 14

Medical XR and Immersive Healthcare

Risks and Opportunities of using immersive healthcare

Immersive technologies offer many advantages for medical applications ranging from treatments, coordinated assisted surgeries, virtual medicine, and rehabilitation, leading to a revolution in the healthcare ecosystem. When it comes to the risks and opportunities associated with the Metaverse, the safety and privacy of patients must remain a priority. 
With that objective, a credible, diverse, and accomplished network of healthcare professionals, regulatory experts, academic researchers, entrepreneurs, policy experts, insurance experts, and patients will facilitate discussions on scientific, technical, and policy matters in healthcare. We must ensure that immersive healthcare can create a more precise, accessible, and effective assessment, treatment, diagnosis, and therapy, making the world safer.

9:10 am PST
December 14
15 minutes

Welcome to Day 4 – MedicalXR & Immersive Healthcare MSW2022

9:30 am PST
December 14
30 minutes

Opening Keynote – Virtually Better: The Science and Practice of Therapeutic Virtual Reality

Not so far in the future, clinicians might prescribe a virtual beach vacation to ease aches and pains instead of prescribing another pill. Psychiatrists might treat social anxiety by inviting patients to a dinner party or reminiscing with Alzheimer patients in a replica of their childhood home. Hospitals might immerse children in fantastical playlands while they receive chemotherapy or undergo frightening medical tests. It’s all starting to happen now because of virtual reality (VR). For decades, scientists in elite universities have been quietly discovering the surprising health benefits of VR for ailments ranging from burn injuries to stroke and acute stress. Over 17,000 studies reveal that VR has an uncanny ability to lower pain, calm nerves, and boost mental health without requiring pharmacotherapy. But the technology has been too expensive, unreliable, and unwieldy for the research to translate beyond the pages of academic journals and doctoral dissertations… until now. Explosive advances in delivering low-cost, portable, and high-quality VR has spawned a new field the FDA now calls Medical Extended Reality or MXR. In this lecture, Dr. Brennan Spiegel will describe frontline stories of using VR in over 3000 patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and will review his lab’s latest clinical research, including a trial testing VR in the hospital setting, a new virtual clinic for patients with IBS, and NIH sponsored research testing VR for managing acute and chronic pain.

Learning objectives

  • Define the new FDA field of extended medical reality (MXR)
  • Learn what the “metaverse” is and how it may be leveraged for treatment purposes
  • Evaluate clinical data using VR to support mental health conditions
  • Explore how VR is used to manage acute and chronic pain in the context of the opioid epidemic
  • Discuss implementation and funding challenges to scaling MXR across healthcare

Session Video

10:05 am PST
December 14
1 hour

The Good, Bad, the Ugly, and the Unknown

What do we know about immersive healthcare’s positives and negatives today? What are the least understood aspects of immersive healthcare? What do we need to care about?

Session Video

11:10 am PST
December 14
1 hour

Setting the global standards for Medical XR in Healthcare

Simulation and immersive technologies are revolutionizing health and care education, growing in popularity across all sectors and disciplines, and offering different ways of supporting and engaging with learners.

Health Education England has been collaborating with XRSI’s Medical XR Council & several key MXR stakeholders to build baseline standards for this emerging field. The panel will discuss what potential considerations should be made for safeguarding the MXR ecosystem.

Session Video

12:15 pm PST
December 14
30 minutes

Impact of Blockchain and DLT on Emerging Healthcare Ecosystems

The healthcare industry faces various challenges, including an aging population, scarce and imbalanced medical resources, and excessive growth in medical expenses. Does Blockchain have the potential to improve the lives of patients? Key aspects of the interview will include:

  • The role of open source DLTs in empowering and protecting patients’ data
  • The need for technical and data security standards
  • Ethical considerations of patient data governance

Session Video

1:15 pm PST
December 14
30 minutes

Patient Health and Safety: How will immersive healthcare infrastructure transform patient care?

The new role of clinicians, nurses, researchers, and hospitals delivering medical care.

Session Video

1:50 pm PST
December 14
30 minutes

The current realities of immersive healthcare technologies

A factual analysis and report based on recent research. What do we know, and what are the unanswered questions as we prepare for healthcare in the Metaverse?

Session Video

2:35 pm PST
December 14
1 hour

Privacy, Roe vs Wade, Evolution of the Metaverse and future of Healthcare Data Protection

American legal context to protect healthcare data is covered by HIPAA, which hasn’t been updated since 2003. While most of the world either faces worse legal privacy conditions or suffers from lack of data protections, Europe has recently expanded the definition of “Sensitive data” to include health inferences. As the Metaverse evolves, and America grapples with Post Roe vs Wade reality, what interventions are necessary to protect patients and citizens alike. What role can organizations, regulators, doctors and citizens play at this juncture?

Session Video

DAY 5 - DECEMBER 15

Policy, Trust, and Governance

The state-of-the-art Metaverse Governance and Policy

The world is facing the unprecedented challenge of building responsible, safe, and inclusive XR and Metaverse-related ecosystems. We need an intervention for pragmatic policy decision-making and governance to help build responsibility, safety, and inclusion for the convergence and threats we are confronting. Together with high-ranking EU/US/UN public officials, government representatives, international business and technology executives, lawmakers, community leaders, civic organizations, big tech organizations, and global citizens, we will explore how to leverage the potential of the Metaverse while ensuring consumer protection, privacy, human rights, global citizen protections, and societal resilience are upheld. As our dependency on innovation grows and we embrace immersive and emerging technologies, we will explore governance, policy, and standards developments to build a trustworthy future for the citizens.

9:10 am PST
December 15
15 minutes

Welcome to Day 5 – Policy, Trust & Governance

9:30 am PST
December 15
30 minutes

The meta challenge of the Metaverse: the start of a new era for government services

Before the Metaverse officially arrives, we need to shift our mindsets from the individual to the collective and look at space as a common good. It is imperative that governments ensure that this new space industry meets the needs of everyone, not just those who can afford it. How are governments planning to onboard citizens to Metaverse services, and how do governance and policy need to change for this new reality?

Session Video

10:05 am PST
December 15
1 hour

Battlefield Metaverse: How can XR impact national security and democracy?

While the Metaverse concept and technologies are still in their infancy, the transition from an interactive to an immersive digital world may have far-reaching impacts on social division, societal resilience, disinformation-driven violence, and potential new vulnerabilities to hybrid attacks by state actors.

How can we ensure that the Metaverse will not be weaponized? How can the Metaverse strengthen and not harm democracy?

Session Video

11:10 am PST
December 15
1 hour

Global Policymaking and role of Regulators: How to govern the Metaverse?

The Metaverse may be a concept long familiar to technologists, but it’s only recently been recognized as anything close to a household name. The Metaverse will change the way people and businesses communicate, and operate. The Metaverse will be built on products that will produce difficult trade-offs between accessibility, interoperability, privacy, safety and security.

Metaverse governance is a multifaceted challenge There is a clear need for Uniform Industry Standards and Protocols, Responsible Innovation, Good Product Design, and innovative Distributed Governance Structures.

Session Video

12:15 pm PST
December 15
1 hour

Welcome to the Corporate Metaverse: How Organizations are Changing Their Work

The Metaverse promises to bring new levels of social connection, mobility, and collaboration to a world of virtual work. Are the promises empty, or are organizations changing how they work as a result of the Metaverse?

Session Video

1:45 pm PST
December 15
1 hour

A Whole New World: What Internet Era lessons Can we apply to the Metaverse?

The Metaverse will have consequential levels of impact on human behavior. But amongst the opportunities that the Metaverse will provide, there are many risks that could translate into harms. Given what’s at stake, do we need to provide education and onboard citizens? What lessons can we learn from the internet era?

Session Video

2:50 pm PST
December 15
30 minutes

Metaverse Strides in the Business World: How Corporations are Governing in a Vacuum

While the pace of Metaverse is debatable and adoption is difficult to predict, we know that it is coming. With the Metaverse will come the need for corporations to better govern various aspects of their participation in the Metaverse. Undoubtedly the evolution will affect internal processes, business dealings, case strategy, and more.

Session Video

3:35 pm PST
December 15
1 hour

Regulating the Metaverse: How to govern the virtual?

We’ve all heard of sexual assaults and negative experiences in VR.

As we evolve towards the Metaverse, we will need real-world controls to protect users from fraud, abuse, and loss. Regulation takes time and is difficult to apply globally. A panel discussion on what it takes to make the metaverse a viable place to live and do business.

Session Video

4:40 pm PST
December 15
30 minutes

How is the Metaverse Shifting our Technical Ecosystem and Lifecycle?

XR technologies aren’t new, but how we interact with them has changed rapidly within the last several years. As businesses compete for supremacy in this space, the landscape of these new innovations has become confusing and uncertain for many. In this context, our technical ecosystem and lifecycle need to change.

Session Video

5:20 pm PST
December 15
30 minutes

Closing Keynote – The Cyber Meta-reality: Beyond the Metaverse

Other fields of science in our physical reality have decades and centuries of provenance and study. Astrophysics, physics, biology, and numerous other fields already have cosmologies, ontologies, and taxonomies related to them. But, this new reality in which humans are existing has none of these trappings. How are we to navigate this new meta-reality without first mapping out the ontological, cosmological, and taxonomies extant within it? Before we can settle other matters within the metaverse, we must first look beyond it to the theory and metatheory upon which it is built: the cyber meta-reality.

Session Video

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