Using Cultural Probes in HCI4D/ICTD: a Design Case Study from Bungoma, Kenya
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Using Cultural Probes in HCI4D/ICTD: A Design Case Study from Bungoma, Kenya SUSAN WYCHE, Michigan State University, Department of Media and Information, USA Cultural probes have long been used in HCI to provide designers with glimpses into the local cultures for which they are designing, and thereby inspire novel design proposals. HCI4D/ICTD researchers are increasingly interested in more deeply understanding local cultures in the developing regions where they work, in designing technologies that are not strictly related to socioeconomic development, and in considering new design approaches. However, few use this subjective, design-led method in their research. In this paper, I present a case study detailing my experience designing and deploying cultural probes in Bungoma, Kenya. Returns from my comment cards and digital camera activities draw attention to probe recipients’ unique experiences and to Bungoma’s distinctive characteristics; they also inspired a series of speculative design proposals. My experience motivates a discussion that elaborates on how a cultural probes approach can benefit HCI4D/ICTD research by raising questions about generalizability, objectivity, and the pursuit of a single solution in design. More broadly, I offer a case study demonstrating an alternative way to approach design in HCI4D/ICTD. CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI) → HCI design and evaluation methods KEYWORDS Cultural probes; design; design workbooks; HCI4D; Kenya; ICTD; speculative design ACM Reference format: Susan Wyche. 2020. Using Cultural Probes in HCI4D/ICTD: A Design Case Study from Bungoma, Kenya. In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 4, CSCW1, Article 63 (May 2020), 20 pages, https://doi.org/10.1145/3392873 1 INTRODUCTION The big problem with information technology is that it tries so hard to be rational [[32], p. 7]. Twenty years ago, Bill Gaver et al. introduced cultural probes to the HCI community [28]. Since then, HCI has seen widespread use of these designed objects—packages containing open-ended and provocative activities (e.g., postcards, cameras, diaries, and maps). Probes are meant to provide designers with a rich and varied set 63 of materials to inspire design concepts, that are grounded in local cultures [28,32]. However, this highly subjective, design-led approach has been underutilized in HCI for Development (HCI4D) and Information Communication Technology for Development (ICTD). These are established research areas within HCI that examine how technology “can be appropriately designed to … address the distinctive needs of users in developing regions” [[34], p. 1]. HCI4D/ICTD researchers primarily use traditional user research methods (e.g., interviews, ethnography, and surveys) to investigate technology use in these regions, and to inform the design of prototype systems [20,57]. These systems have traditionally been designed to address needs Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. 2573-0142/2020/May – Article 63… $15.00 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3392873 PACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 4, No. CSCW1, Article 63, Publication date: May 2020. 63:2 Figure 1: Comment Cards Box and Digital Camera associated with socioeconomic development (e.g., health, education, and livelihoods) [20,34]. However, researchers in these fields are working to broaden their concerns beyond these traditional ones, and to more deeply understand how the contexts where they work can motivate design interventions that support, for example, leisure [48], playfulness [25], and associated ludic experiences [16]. This shift creates opportunities for broadening the methods used in HCI4D/ICTD. Cultural probes are well-suited for exploring, and inspiring these new design opportunities. More broadly, their use can promote discussions about new and alternative approaches to design within these communities [36,56]. Because their motivations come from art and design, cultural probes embody a different set of sensibilities than other methods more commonly used in HCI and HCI4D/ICTD. These differences are especially related to how probes engage their recipients and embrace researchers’ subjective knowledge, and to how the information that emerges from them is analyzed and used to inspire design. Fundamentally, cultural probes are meant to subvert traditional HCI methods [11]. That is, the approach is intended to offer an alternative to the prevailing rational and scientific processes used in the field [28,32,33]. However, the experimental and subversive nature of the original probes is often lost. The approach has been widely rationalized, and used in ways that are similar to traditional methods in HCI [11,33]. In this paper, I1 describe my experience using cultural probes as Gaver et al. originally intended. Specifically, I detail the early stages of an ongoing design project investigating domestic technology use in rural households located in Bungoma County, Kenya. To date, I have visited participants’ homes twice. My first time was in June 2016, when I presented the probe activities—responding to comment cards and taking 1 There are prior examples of writing in the first person in the CSCW/CHI proceedings (e.g., [51]), however, it is rarely done. I have mostly written in the first person throughout this paper, because a cultural probes approach embraces a designer’s stance or positionality (e.g., their gender, race, age, personal experiences, linguistic tradition, beliefs, and biases) in the design process [32,33]. This positionality can be demonstrated by use of first-person language in writing [8]. PACM on Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 4, No. CSCW1, Article 63, Publication date: May 2020. 63:3 Susan Wyche digital photographs—to 22 participants. In May 2017, I returned to their households to discuss their responses. Since then, I have created a collection of speculative design proposals, which were inspired by these experiences. My approach was guided by the design process detailed in Gaver’s 2001 book The Presence Project [32]. As such, I do not present systematic findings from my fieldwork, nor is this intended to be a how-to guide for using cultural probes in developing regions2. Instead, I contribute a novel design case study, which provides information typically missing from prior studies that use the method. Boehner et al. argue that providing this “rich explanation”, or grounding the method in its corresponding methodology is a significant—but often overlooked—aspect of cultural probe use in HCI [[11], p. 1081]. In particular, I detail my stance, the decisions I made when designing and deploying my probes in Bungoma, the conversations participants’ responses initiated, my interpretations of a handful of these responses, and seven speculative design concepts which were inspired by my experience. I then discuss how this approach can benefit HCI4D/ICTD research by raising questions about generalizability, objectivity, and the pursuit of a single solution in design. More broadly, this paper offers an alternative approach to design for HCI4D/ICTD researchers to consider. 2 BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK Gaver et al. detail their motivations for developing cultural probes in The Presence Project. This book describes their use of the method to investigate “ways technology could be used to increase the presence of older people” in three European towns [[32], p. 12]. It also features design proposals that were inspired by their participants’ probe returns. Gaver et al.’s project was motivated by a desire to challenge stereotypes that older adults are “frail and needy,” and to avoid “the obvious route” of designing technology meant to address older adults’ problems. Instead, their goal was to explore how technology could “tell stories and support values different from those currently recognized” in design [[32], p. 22]. To achieve this goal, they developed a process that prioritized subjectivity, uncertainty, and speculation in design. Cultural probes were a significant part of this process: they were a new method, designed to offer an alternative to traditional user research methods. The case study presented here draws heavily from the process detailed in The Presence Project. Cultural probes are designed objects—frequently packages—that contain open-ended, evocative and ambiguous activities given to people to pursue, and return over a period of time. These activities are meant to provide designers with an understanding of local cultures (the experience of everyday life in specific localities). They also support the collection of “inspirational data,” that stimulates a designer’s imagination, rather than “informational data”, that is typically used to identify problems associated with users’ needs in HCI, and HCI4D/ICTD [28,32,33]. Probe activities are meant to be playful and fun; as such, probe items have included prepaid, pre-addressed postcards (with questions for