Projects- Introduction
Project Links:
Since 2008 we have co-designed technologies in rural Namibia for the purpose of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) collection, representation and transfer across generations with rural ovaHerero community members in Eastern Namibia. We deconstruct the tensions that occur between Western imprinted technology and the digital representation of Indigenous Knowledge in theory and practice. Assumptions regarding methods considered appropriate, as well as concepts and techniques are revised.
Design decisions need to be determined and negotiated within local contexts and an indigenous epistemology.
We pursue a community-based co-design (CBCD) approach, which is fundamentally rooted in a dialogical and participatory action research paradigm. We have developed a number of prototypes and mobile applications to support IK collection, classification, representation and curation.
Since 2014 we have expanded our research sites to the Kunene region, where we have established a long-term collaboration with an ovaHimba community, exploring technology adaptations and crowdsourcing technologies.