“Co-designing digital information-seeking activities with and for the small-scale farmers of the Siyakhana Initiative” was a research project undertaken in partial fulfilment of the requirements of an research MA Design (Multimedia) at the University of Johannesburg by Tasmin Jade Donaldson, supervised by Terence Fenn and co-supervised by myself.

Information is paramount to empowering people and communities, laying the foundations for “equality, sustainability and prosperity” as a critical driver of progress (Garrido & Wyber 2017:7). The internet plays an integral role in creating new possibilities to find, share, use and apply information, as well as
inviting “users to develop and share their expertise”. While only half of the world’s population have access to devices, let alone online services, the need to foster the growth of an information-empowered society is more significant than it has ever been (Garrido & Wyber 2017:7). Accordingly, access to meaningful information describes how ‘information’, an intangible resource, can be used to improve the lives and impact the prosperity of developing communities1 by making information “available, actionable, relevant, and useful to individuals and communities”. Information Communication Technology (ICT) provides this mechanism, with mobile technologies playing a significant role; however, having access to information and having the ability to connect is meaningless if people cannot apply information to ‘real-world problems’ (Garrido & Wyber 2017:7,46).

The study was an interaction design (IxD) project that followed a Research Through Design (RTD) methodology. It aimed to improve information-seeking activities with and for small-scale farmers, namely the farmers of the Siyakhana Initiative, by applying an experience-centred approach, to identify their day-to-day information-seeking behaviours in line with their lived motivations and aspirations. The outcome of the study was the co-design of an interaction design solution using the affordances offered by digital technology to improve the way that small-scale farmers find, use and share information.

Reference:
Garrido, M. & Wyber, S. Eds. 2017. Development and Access to Information. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions: The Hague

Outcome:

Donaldson, T.J. 2020. Co-designing digital information-seeking activities with and for the small-scale farmers of the Siyakhana Initiative. MA Design Dissertation. University of Johannesburg.