Adopting an African Standpoint in HCI4D::A Provocation

While studies in HCI4D have been advanced by the shift of perspective from developmental studies to a range of other discourses, current analytical concepts for understanding the sociality of society in Africa have arguably led to some misinterpretations of the place of technology. This provocation suggests that an ‘African Standpoint’ based on a combination of various standpoint positionalities and the Wittgensteinian approach of Winch can offer conceptual and analytical sensitivities for articulating social relations, transnational engagements and the conceptualisation of technological innovation. This provides an approach for seeing and accounting for things as they are – right here, right there and right now – and not some idealised conception of an African reality

Rethinking Technology Design and Deployment in Africa:Lessons from an African Standpoint

Research in HCI4D has emphasized the need for a critical analysis of how conventional design paradigms and analytical orientations work in non-western contexts. This necessitates an examination of how indigenous modes of knowing could inform the framing and making of technological innovation in Africa. This paper draws on four empirical cases to show how stereotypical (often colonial and neo-colonial) design paradigms might have hastily misrepresented the situated practices of designing and deploying educational technologies in Nigeria. The paper argues that a situated standpoint orientation provides a way of approaching and analysing the plurality of the African context – which in essence relies on indigenous practices and knowledge in designing operational interventions that can be adopted and used to support teaching and learning. Thus, the temporal analysis of the four cases points to the material implications of the interactivity between culture and locale in extending indigenous practices of design

No More ‘Solutionism’ or ‘Saviourism’ in Futuring African HCI:A Manyfesto

Research in HCI4D has continuously advanced a narrative of ‘lacks’ and ‘gaps’ of the African perspective in technoscience. In response to such misguided assumptions, this paper attempts to reformulate the common and perhaps unfortunate thinking about African practices of design in HCI4D – i.e., largely as a function of African societal predicaments and Western technocratic resolutions. Through critical reflection on a range of issues associated with post-colonialism and post-development, I examine the possibilities that various historical tropes might offer to the reinvention of the African perspective on innovation. This leads to the consideration of how engaging in critical discussions about the future dimensions of African HCI can allow for grappling with the effect of the coloniality of being, power and knowledge. Developing on the ideas of futuring as a way of dealing with the complexities of the present – in this case the coloniality of the imagination - the paper ends by discussing three tactical propositions for ‘remembering’ future identities of African innovation where the values of autonomy are known and acted upon

When Ideas Migrate: A Postcolonial Perspective on Biomodd [LBA2]

This paper was completed as part of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN, CogNovo, grant number 604764.Biomodd is a global series of art installations in which computer technology and ecology converge. Computer networks built from upcycled computer components are provided with living internal ecosystems. In a symbiotic exchange, plants and algae live alongside electronics and use the latter’s waste heat to thrive. Sensors and robotics provide additional interaction possibilities with the organisms. The first version of the project was completed in the US, while the second version was built in the Philippines. Using a postcolonial stance, we reflect on the challenges involved in translating the project from one context to another. We focus on issues related to heat recycling in the tropics; authenticity and hybridity; obsolescence and the convertibility of capital; cultural sampling, remixing, and appropriation; and structures for social organization. We advance Biomodd as a significant contribution to artscience collaborative initiatives in the global South

Education Technology Design and Deployment in HCI4D:A Nigerian Perspective

The decolonisation of knowledge has shown significant impact in reframing the understanding of technology as a means to the development of African communities. However, post-development narratives in HCI4D have failed to explicate how situated and grassroot alternatives can inform the innovative design of diverse perspectives and experience. As such, this thesis approaches this fundamental gap in our understanding of the practice of technology design and deployment by problematising conventional approaches for understanding, designing, and deploying educational technologies in the context of Nigeria. Through the adoption of a range of indigenous sensitivities, the thesis seeks to develop candidate approaches for analysing diverse cultural perspectives and for designing technologies that embody and extend them. Through the thematic analysis of empirical data, the thesis shows how stereotypical approaches to educational research and technology design presents postcolonial narratives of innovation in Nigeria as neo-colonial design agenda’s that needed to be appropriated in line with emerging conditions and relations in Africa. The interpretive analysis of the perspective of stakeholders in three Universities shows the relevance of developing context-specific pedagogical approach relevant to the politics of decolonialise blended education. The analysis also attempts to revive the arguments about the processes of technology diffusion and acceptance, showing the relevance and limit of traditional models for understanding the acceptance or rejection of technologies in an educational context. Using the Wittgensteinian approach of Winch and a range of Feminist positionalities, I attempted showing how a situated epistemological orientation can bring about envisioning alternative’s ways of articulating and translating transnational encounters and exchange of technological innovation. The sensitization and evaluation of the mundane practice of three software development firm shows the mythology of design innovation in/from Africa. This led to the consideration of how reframing the basic assumption about creativity from Africa could present African culture of innovation not merely as a passive space for the transfer and appropriation of technology but as a transitional space where innovate practices get regenerated and redistributed across already polarised boundaries of innovation. Finally, the thesis argues for an ‘ontological’ framing of designing localised and indigenous technologies. Through critical reflection on a range of issues associated with post-colonialism and post-development, I examine the possibilities that various historical tropes might offer to the reinvention of the African perspective on innovation. This leads to the consideration of how engaging in critical discussions about the future dimensions of African HCI can allow for grappling with the effect of the coloniality of being, power and knowledge. Developing on the ideas of futuring as a way of dealing with the complexities of the present – in this case the coloniality of the imagination - the thesis ends by discussing three tactical propositions for ‘remembering’ future identities of African innovation where the values of autonomy are known and acted upon

Problematising Identity, Positionality, and Adequacy in HCI4D Fieldwork:A Reflection

Ontological and epistemological differences between Western and non-Western traditions makes investigating and understanding other cultures using stereotypical (Western) approaches and methods rather difficult. At the intersection of a crisis of identity, epistemic positionality and cultural adequacy, this paper reflects on the ethical and methodological implications of the practices of HCI4D fieldwork that seek to decode and deconstruct the mundane practices of designing and deploying educational technologies in Nigeria. The reflection identifies a range of issues concerning the limiting relevance of conventional methods of undertaking field studies in Africa, while also showing the appropriateness of indigenous approaches. This has significant importance for the practices of those wishing to work in/with African communities in design projects

Designing Learning Technology:An African HCI Approach

The research involves investigating, from an African, specifically Nigerian perspective, what exactly might constitute education technology design best practices that will bring about developing a knowledgeable individual? Substantive progress has been made with regards to identifying gaps in the literature regarding the notion of education with technology in Africa, notably blended learning and some work on the relevance of indigenous knowledge and methodologies in providing some better understanding of the peculiarities of an African context. Initial fieldwork has been completed in Nigeria, thematically analyzed and interpreted the data; conducting a follow-up field work (a participatory observational study), and also evaluating and disseminating the early results from the initial analysis

The Expression of Power in ICT's Knowledge Enterprise: An Empirical Illustration of Computing's Colonial Impulse

ICT globalization continues to spread hardware, software, and accompanying technologies, so too does knowledges and trainings on those ICTs. This knowledge migration process has been linked by scholars to a ‘colonial impulse’ inherent in computing as a knowl- edge enterprise, which incorporates into broader colonizing forces. Through simultaneous explorations of dual case studies with a tribal ISP in California and an educational organization that works with indigenous First Nations communities in British Columbia, we depict how power circulates in this process, both empowering and disempowering communities. We then offer a brief argument for the need to foreground methods and approaches to disentangling these contradicting forces

Challenges and paradoxes in decolonising HCI: A critical discussion

The preponderance of Western methods, practices, standards, and classifications in the manner in which new technology-related knowledge is created and globalised has led to calls for more inclusive approaches to design. A decolonisation project is concerned with how researchers might contribute to dismantling and re-envisioning existing power relations, resisting past biases, and balancing Western heavy influences in technology design by foregrounding the authentic voices of the indigenous people in the entire design process. We examine how the establishment of local Global South HCI communities (AfriCHI and ArabHCI) has led to the enactment of decolonisation practices. Specifically, we seek to uncover how decolonisation is perceived in the AfriCHI and ArabHCI communities as well as the extent to which both communities are engaged with the idea of decolonisation without necessarily using the term. We drew from the relevant literature, our own outsider/insider lived experiences, and the communities’ responses to an online anonymised survey to highlight three problematic but interrelated practical paradoxes: a terminology, an ethical, and a micro-colonisation paradox. We argue that these paradoxes expose the dilemmas faced by local non-Western researchers as they pursue decolonisation thinking. This article offers a blended perspective on the decolonisation debate in HCI, CSCW, and the practice-based CSCW scholarly communities and invites researchers to examine their research work using a decolonisation lens

Data for development: shifting research methodologies for Covid-19

© 2020 The Authors. Published by The Journal of Learning for Development. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/463/518Successful and appropriate informal digital learning can help individuals and communities build sustainable and meaningful livelihoods, strengthen social cohesion and resilience, preserve and enhance cultural traditions and engage constructively and robustly with the wider world. Building digital learning that embodies participative and collaborative development and community ownership and control rests on the work of educators who understand these individuals and communities and their cultures, which may be very distant and different from global norms and the mainstream of their countries. These educators may however be reliant on research tools and techniques that are inappropriate or inadequate in these different settings and situations. This paper sets out a brief critique of these established tools and techniques as the prelude to reviewing a range of more innovative and eclectic ones drawn from a variety of disciplines. This is timely because COVID-19 has increased the barriers that separate educators from would-be learners whilst also increasing the education that these people and communities need