Co-designing Digital Platforms for Volunteer-led Migrant Community Welfare Support

Abstract

Community-based migrant organizations play a vital role in the provision of welfare services to temporary migrant workers, international students, and refugees whose access to government support services are limited. Through a co-design based inquiry, we explored the potential to utilize mainstream digital platforms to support the welfare agenda of an Australia-based Filipino migrant organization. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of implementing such technology-mediated workflows within the community-based organization and the essential practices that they may undermine. Drawing on this case study, we present a provisional set of reflections for design practitioners working in the space of migrant communities and other marginalized community groups. These include the importance of designing for the community's long-term and holistic development, leveraging volunteers' digital literacy, and a call for more malleable platforms that allow community groups to reflect their core values and needs directly onto the platform configurations.