Reimagining Representation: A Participatory Seiir (Sensory Experience Immersive Integration and Representation) Method for Inclusive, Accessible, Culturally -Informed, Experience Specific Media Research

This interactive workshop introduces SEIIR, Sensory Experience Integration, Immersion, and Representation, a novel, patent-pending media and research methodology grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and inclusive design. Developed through over 50 international media design labs, SEIIR offers a structured, repeatable, and ethics-informed workflow for producing media that authentically represents varied ways of seeing, hearing, moving, thinking, and being. It is the first methodology of its kind to embed first-person sensory data and accessibility design across all phases of media creation, from narrative concept to final editing.

SEIIR was designed by Stephanie Wilson Gonzalez to address critical gaps in representation, particularly for individuals from neurodivergent, disabled, and marginalized communities, whose lived experiences are often reduced to stereotypes or excluded entirely in visual and narrative storytelling. Rather than treating accessibility as a compliance task or post-production fix, SEIIR integrates adaptive storytelling, trauma-informed design, and sensory mapping techniques from the outset. It also functions as a translational bridge between social work research, assistive technology, education, and inclusive clinical training.

Participants will engage with SEIIR as both a methodological innovation and a pedagogical tool, learning how to apply it to their own work in research, media, therapy, education, or community practice. The session includes three core learning objectives:

Understand how SEIIR operationalizes CBPR principles to embed lived experience and disability justice in inclusive media production

Apply the SEIIR workflow by collaboratively designing a short scene using first-person experiential data, narrative memory, and accessibility techniques

Explore implementation models for integrating SEIIR into clinical research, social work training, public health communication, and disability justice advocacy

The 90-minute session is divided into four interactive components:

Part I: Introduction and Context Framing SEIIR within social work methodology, ethics of representation, and participatory design

Part II: Case Study Screening and Analysis Reviewing a short micro-documentary created using SEIIR, followed by guided discussion

Part III: Collaborative Design Challenge Small groups use SEIIR’s design maps to co-create scenes based on lived experience data

Part IV: Debrief and Implementation Planning Group discussion on real-world applications, cross-sector partnerships, and ethical use of narrative

This workshop is particularly valuable for scholars and practitioners interested in trauma-informed practice, disability justice, and innovations in research design. It equips participants with a workflow template, sample ethics protocols, and a replicable model for co-producing research and media with underrepresented populations.

Currently under patent review through the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, SEIIR is already generating traction with film studios, accessibility technologists, and community health educators. While technical elements remain confidential, all public-facing tools, frameworks, and examples will be made available to participants in compliance with intellectual property guidelines.

By offering a new methodology that sits at the intersection of ethics, accessibility, and participatory design, SEIIR contributes to the advancement of social work’s core values: dignity, equity, and the co-creation of inclusive knowledge.