TY - GEN
T1 - A new visualization approach to re-contextualize indigenous knowledge in Rural Africa
AU - Rodil, Kasper
AU - Winschiers-Theophilus, Heike
AU - Bidwell, Nicola J.
AU - Eskildsen, Søren
AU - Rehm, Matthias
AU - Kapuire, Gereon Koch
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Current views of sustainable development recognize the importance of accepting the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) of rural people. However, there is an increasing technological gap between Elder IK holders and the younger generation and a persistent incompatibility between IK and the values, logics and literacies embedded, and supported by ICT. Here, we present an evaluation of new technology that might bridge generations and preserve key elements of local IK in Namibia. We describe how we applied insights, generated by ethnographic, dialogical and participatory action research, in designing a structure in which users can store, organize and retrieve user-generated videos in ways that are compatible with their knowledge system. The structure embeds videos in a scenario-based 3D visualization of a rural village. It accounts for some of the ways this rural community manages information, socially, spatially and temporally and provides users with a recognizable 3D simulated environment in which to re-contextualize de-contextualized video clips. Our formative in situ evaluation of a prototype suggests the visualization is legible to community members, provokes participation in design discussions, offers opportunities for local appropriation and may facilitate knowledge sharing between IK holders and more youthful IK assimilators. Simultaneously differing interpretations of scenarios and modeled objects reveal the limitations of our modeling decisions and raises various questions regarding graphic design details and regional transferability.
AB - Current views of sustainable development recognize the importance of accepting the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) of rural people. However, there is an increasing technological gap between Elder IK holders and the younger generation and a persistent incompatibility between IK and the values, logics and literacies embedded, and supported by ICT. Here, we present an evaluation of new technology that might bridge generations and preserve key elements of local IK in Namibia. We describe how we applied insights, generated by ethnographic, dialogical and participatory action research, in designing a structure in which users can store, organize and retrieve user-generated videos in ways that are compatible with their knowledge system. The structure embeds videos in a scenario-based 3D visualization of a rural village. It accounts for some of the ways this rural community manages information, socially, spatially and temporally and provides users with a recognizable 3D simulated environment in which to re-contextualize de-contextualized video clips. Our formative in situ evaluation of a prototype suggests the visualization is legible to community members, provokes participation in design discussions, offers opportunities for local appropriation and may facilitate knowledge sharing between IK holders and more youthful IK assimilators. Simultaneously differing interpretations of scenarios and modeled objects reveal the limitations of our modeling decisions and raises various questions regarding graphic design details and regional transferability.
KW - 3D visualization
KW - Africa
KW - design
KW - indigenous knowledge
KW - rural
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80052813079&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-23771-3_23
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-23771-3_23
M3 - Conference Paper published in Proceedings
AN - SCOPUS:80052813079
SN - 9783642237706
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 297
EP - 314
BT - Human-Computer Interaction - INTERACT 2011 - 13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Proceedings
T2 - 13th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2011
Y2 - 5 September 2011 through 9 September 2011
ER -
