Human societies face some significant problems-such as those tied to limitations of the human psyche, to tears in the social fabric, and to slow-moving natural processes-that defy rapid solution. Correspondingly, information systems that help to address these problems also develop over long(er) periods of time. Yet contemporary research and industry information system design is held to increasingly ambitious project deadlines. Research that engages with long(er) term design processes from diverse perspectives and theoretical orientations is needed. Early efforts of this ilk in the human-computer interaction community can be found around domains such as conflict and postconflict situations, crisis informatics, collapse informatics, cultural heritage and sustainability. The work reported here joins this literature-in the context of recovering from genocide and the development of systems of transitional justice-and draws from the theoretical framing of multilifespan design. Specifically, we report on the first 8 years of a multi-lifespan information system design project-the Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal-to support aspects of transitional justice in Rwanda. We offer a systematic presentation of the project's design principles and explicate the development of those guiding design principles through our engagement with a set of nine design challenges. We provide design reflections that pertain to information systems for transitional justice, conducting multi-lifespan information system design under shifting socio-political and technical conditions, and engaging with value sensitive design. We conclude with our contributions and open questions.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTSThrough this submission we:• Model the type of reflective scholarship that can inform and enrich longer-term research projects.• Report on the first 8 years of a multi-lifespan design project-the Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal.• Address the problem of designing an information system pertaining to long-term processes and outcomes of transitional justice systems. • Review related information systems for transitional justice, the Rwandan context and our prior work.• Describe our design approach, including a systematic presentation of the project's guiding design principles. • Explicate the development of those guiding design principles through our engagement with a set of nine design challenges. • Demonstrate how guiding principles can provide one conceptual tool both to evoke and resolve value tensions throughout a design process. • Demonstrate the roles political and social change, shifting perspectives and time (including pause) play in longer-term design processes. • Demonstrate how well-designed systems have the potential to make information more accessible and comprehensible to the people who confront injustice, now and well into the future. • Articulate open questions concerning how to ethically engage multi-lifespan design work.