Using Digital Layers to Evoke Nostalgia in Hybrid Gifting
Rebecca Gibson · 2021
Gifting has consistently served many economic and social functions, enabling a way to convey sentiment to others. In digital gifting, the absence of physical elements in the exchange can make it difficult to communicate this meaning. Hybrid gifting combines both physical and digital gifting, enabling a paradigm to explore how digital content can be embedded in a meaningful way. Specifically, this PhD focuses on integrating the complex emotion of nostalgia via digital technology into hybrid gift exchanges. Both gifting and nostalgia provide similar social benefits, although the two areas are rarely explored together. The aim is to understand how the two concepts can be combined to create new experiences, as well as exploring the commercial practicalities of nostalgic hybrid gifts.