Local voice in a global world - User-centered design in support of everyday practices

Abstract

The design of ICT products is at present optimized for mass manufacturing in a global scale. Yet local communities and specific users have needs that are in danger of being excluded from the benefits of new technology. We present our experience of co-designing targeted products with local stakeholders embedded in their concrete social and material context and everyday practices. Our claim is such embedded design could be achieved through combining modular global technology with local handcrafts, which contain shared cultural meanings and guaranteed affordance. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.