Digital Empathy by Design: How System Constraints and Temporal Structures Act as Catalysts for Collaborative Opportunities by Y'Barbo, Beck, Mcewan, and McFadden
Digital Empathy by Design: How System Constraints and Temporal Structures Act as Catalysts for Collaborative Opportunities By Joshua Y’Barbo, University of the Arts London – joshuaybarbo@gmail.com / j.d.ybarbo@wimbledon.arts.ac.uk Janna Beck, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp - p004621@ap.be Maraid Mcewan, University of the Arts London - m.mcewan@arts.ac.uk Jonathan McFadden, University of Kentucky - jonathan.mcfadden@uky.edu 12 October 2025 Abstract This paper investigates how digital tools and performative methodologies foster, challenge, and transform empathy in collaborative art practice. Despite prevalent concerns that digital mediation impedes authentic connection, we argue that technological constraints can paradoxically amplify empathic engagement by making collective vulnerability and attunement operational necessities rather than emotional add-ons. We situate our inquiry in two practice-as-research projects: FRAMED—a global, open-source drawing platform emp...