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

Abstract

User Experience (UX) is understood as the experience that a person gains when interacting with a product in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to use such a product. Computer applications are the most common products evaluated for user experience. Based on primary data collected through a case study research strategy, this paper argues that a process is an important element of user experience that needs to be considered when collecting Indigenous Knowledge (IK) in rural communities in South Africa. Our research findings show that the defined IK recording process may be understood as having impact on usability if IK recorders have problems completing their tasks when following this process. The implications here are that the scope of applying UX evaluation should now be expanded to include processes; because processes describe how a task is to be accomplished; this is very similar to what the user interface of a computer application is meant to achieve. This is the key contribution of this paper to the user experience body of knowledge.