Keynote

Theorisation as beneficiation in Interaction Design and International Development: A Global South perspective 

Professor Judy van Biljon

Interaction design for sustainable development and inclusivity for the Global South, while respecting the distinctive lifestyles of non-traditional technology users remains a challenging endeavour in the time of datafication, digitalization and AI. It remains important for research to be undertaken into theories for global interaction design due to widely varying contexts, rapidly accumulating changes to our environments, technological progress and the importance of creating a body of scientifically acceptable principles as disciplinary commons. What do we refer to when we talk about theorisation in interaction design? This response is based on a review of extant progress and future perspectives specifically the dimensions of time, reality and complexity which inform decisions about (1) the use of theory and (2) the aspirations of the theorists: whether to explain, structure knowledge or attempt to predict outcomes in interaction design. Like beneficiation in the mining industry, theory development can be considered a process whereby impurities are removed to abstract a higher value product. Similar to beneficiation in the mining industry, the Global South is missing out on the benefits of theorising as value addition in research. A synthesis of the barriers and enablers of theory development will be presented, with specific application to the Global South context and opportunities. This keynote aims to launch a discussion on the journey towards theory development for interaction design across borders to encourage beneficiation of research in the Global South. 

Bio

Judy van Biljon is a professor at the University of South Africa (Unisa). She was educated at the universities of the Free State (MSc), Northwest (BEd) and Unisa (PhD in Computer Science). She holds the National Research Foundation’s Chair in Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) hosted by the School of Computing. She is passionate about the use of Human-Computer Interaction principles to improve the design and evaluation of technology for teaching and learning and the sustainable use of technology in resource-constrained environments. She promotes research collaboration and capacity building through initiatives such as the Southern African Chapter of the International Network for Postgraduate Students in ICT4D (IPID), Swedish and South African collaboration (SASUF) and Responsible AI (RAI) UK project and the ict4dsa.com platform. She is collaborating with researchers in Ghana, Uganda, Sweden, Finland, and the UK.