A case for understanding user experience challenges confronting indigenous knowledge recorders in rural communities in South Africa

Abstract

For centuries, rural communities have relied on their indigenous knowledge for survival and sustenance. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is understood as local knowledge, which is unique and traditional to a specific community. Due to the fact that IK plays an important role in the general well-being of a community, IK needs to be properly collected and protected. In view of this, the South African government undertook the development of a National Recordal System (NRS). However, User Experience (UX) in IKS has been largely ignored and as a result very little is understood of UX related challenges within the IKS field. This paper makes a case for the understanding of UX challenges confronting IK Recorders in rural communities in South Africa. Understanding UX challenges will improve on the overall quality of the captured IK and is important for the enhancement of the NRS processes, tools and the system that has been deployed.

More than songs and stories: The nexus between cultural records and national development

“…This has been particularly advocated for indigenous knowledge, which still mostly resides in the memories and activities of community members. Thus, as recent scholarship indicates, there exists a critical need for the documentation and management of this key, time-tested resource for development (Muswazi, 2001; Ngulube, 2002; Mwebesa et al, 2007; Stevens, 2008; Lodhi and Mikulecky, 2010, 2011; Khalala et al, 2014; Nkwanyana, 2018). The capture of indigenous knowledge and other cultural records that originate locally would also address the predominance of foreign information and fill the gap in local information which Alemna has identified as a significant problem in Africa’s information society.…”

Process as an element of UX in collecting Indigenous Knowledge: A case study in South Africa

“…Rural communities have over the years gained Indigenous Knowledge (IK) that has helped them to survive; sustain their lives and their environment for future generations [3,4]. Most of rural societies are living in the resource constrained environments and are underdeveloped and for this reason, they often find other means to sustain a living such as agriculture and other cultural activities.…”

“…Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is understood as local knowledge which is unique and traditional to a specific community and plays a very important role in the general wellbeing of a community [4,6,7]. As indigenous knowledge in rural African communities is mostly oral and generally transferred through storytelling; the accuracy of captured IK is very depends on the IK recorders who collect the knowledge from the IK owners.…”

“…. In addition they are equipped with paper based questionnaires (guide), digital video cameras and an audio recorder [1,4].…”

“…Therefore, this paper is contextualised within a larges study on User Experience (UX) in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) towards enhancing the UX of IK Recorders using the National Indigenous Knowledge Management System (NIKMAS) system in rural communities in South Africa [4].…”