In the era of accelerating change, the foundation’s projects work with the world's spiritual cultures as a backdrop to conduct new forms of media documentation so that perennial wisdom can be captured and made accessible to all. The documentation of traditional cultures is not just a passive exercise. The work has shown and continues to show that engagement with culture provokes fundamental re-questioning of forms of computer user interfaces, and hence is a valuable process to spark technological innovation.

A central theme in all work is the notion the human being is a potential emblem of perfection and capable of becoming an enlightened being within one’s lifetime. Given the divisions between the sacred and the spiritual that exist in modern life, the foundation is developing various kinds of products to bridge the gap, to allow people to interact with meaningful tools and media, and experience self realization while going about their secular activities.

The foundation’s field laboratory has a base in India, The Sacred World Research Laboratory, a developing nation and emerging economy. It is engaged in projects so that developing nations can become centers of innovation and create their own insights into interaction, and cultural conscious product design. Given the track record of producing world class research and design, members of the team have a chance to become the next generation of world leaders in design, and we hope that our investment in people in the developing world will allow research in developing cultures to compete at par with developed nations.

The Sacred World Foundation’s current focus and projects

Creating new paradigms for modern computing
The project will attempt to reverse the design divide i.e. How can aesthetics developed in developing nations shape the design tools in the developed worlds . Presently, there is great excitement around mobile multimedia communications in the western world. However, models of interaction and presentation available to them are limited. The proliferation of technology invariably creates homogenization. The aspiration of the 21st century will be to aim for diversity, as preserving one’s individuality will become an important asset. Traditional society’s diverse cosmo and eco-centric worldviews can provide resistance to homogenization. Incorporating the User Interface expertise known to traditional crafts can contribute to better designed workstations, mobile devices, products and content.

Building bridges between tools and the body
A crucial design goal for the 21st century techno-man is the role of the body and man’s physical involvement in the act of learning and communication. Next generation technology must address body friendly interfaces. Therefore our projects will research new tools of communication integrating the hand, the sense of touch, texture and gesture and craft in the design of modern technological interfaces. This will result into new kinds of instruments in which computing technology animates traditional forms.

Preservation of cultural resources
We are developing cultural resources that will allow the modern technological society to access the world’s sacred traditions, i.e., content dealing with healing, transformation and self-learning. The world’s leading scholars and traditional craft persons will be engaged in the production of cultural resources and hence the foundation will aim at projecting the vision and expertise of traditional practitioners who otherwise might not have a presence in the cyber world, and whose skills face extinction.

Interactive learning exhibits
In collaboration with cultural learning institutions, e.g. museums and universities, research institutions, we are developing develop interactive learning exhibits based on high content areas. The present focus is on developing content based on pilgrimage circuits, sacred geography, and ecology and goddess traditions.

Digital Museum of World Spirituality and Culture
Our long-term goal is to create a digital museum of world culture and spirituality based on innovations and cultural resources.With its cutting edge research and development in multimedia and learning, the Sacred World Foundation will harness and re-interpret the traditional intellectual and cultural capital in the modern ethos. Through interaction with ancient wisdom, it is inevitable that the Sacred World Foundation will create a pioneering idiom of learning for tomorrow.