Embracing Ubuntu: Mapping Communal Ecologies in Participatory Design for HCI practice
PDC '24 in Sibu, Sarawak
12 August 2024.
Call for participation
This one-day PDC 2024 workshop calls upon practitioners, researchers, educators, and students in Participatory Design, HCI, co-design, user experience design, design education, ethical design, and emerging technologies. Together, we'll explore the vital role of Ubuntu values in PD and HCI, envisioning new approaches to embed these principles. Our aims are to understand how Ubuntu is currently practised within PD and HCI, identify ways to amplify its impact through interactive experiences and chart a course for future development. Outcomes will include a shared understanding of Ubuntu's potential in our field, clear directions for further growth, and collaborative resources for teaching and applying Ubuntu principles.
We invite you to participate! Share your work and perspectives, reflect on your practices in light of Ubuntu, and engage with others in the community. Submit a position contribution outlining your interest, focusing on case studies, literature/curriculum reviews, Ubuntu-centered projects, ethical considerations, or new resources that could bolster Ubuntu's integration.
Position contributions should be 2-4 pages long or relevant length depending on medium (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCHI Master Article template. Submissions will be juried by the organisers based on originality and relevance. Submissions and questions should be emailed to [jaydon.farao11@gmail.com]. At least one author of each accepted paper must attend the workshop.
Registration
Registration for in-person attendees are included in the registration fee for the in-person full conference. For those wanting to attend online, the registration fee for just the workshop is USD 63. This should be paid via the PDC site registration page. More details on registration fees can be found here.
PDC 2024 Theme
Reaching Out: Connecting Beyond Participation
About the workshop
In an era where interconnectedness and relationality are integral to technology development and innovation, local communal philosophies and approaches have become important in developing effective and inclusive participatory design practices. While Ubuntu, a popular communal philosophy originating in Southern Africa, has been commonly referenced as an ideal approach in various domains, there is a lack of understanding of how Ubuntu principles can be adopted in a practical way during participatory design (PD) projects within the field of Human Computer Interaction. This workshop aims to explore the practical adoption of Ubuntu principles in HCI practice, focusing on community-driven methodologies in PD. Through mapping communal Ubuntu practices, including community-informed decision-making, ethical action, care practices, and co-design methodologies, the workshop seeks to bridge the gap between theory and action. By contextualising Ubuntu within realised projects, the workshop endeavours to establish guidelines for embracing community-centred philosophies in PD, fostering inclusive and community-centred design processes.
Meet your organising committee
Jaydon Farao
PhD researcher in Computer Science at the University of Cape Town
Ajit Pillai
PhD candidate at The University of Sydney
Hafeni Mthoko
Co-founder of NurtureID8 and a member of faculty at Varsity College.
Shaimaa Lazem
Associate Research Professor at the City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), Egypt.
Marly Muudeni Samuel
PhD Researcher with the One Ocean Hub at the Glasgow School of Art, School of Simulation and Visualisation.