A large body of work in the field of International Development emphasizes the need for host communities in development projects to be empowered in designing and controlling these projects. Many projects are designing and applying information and communication technologies (ICTs) as part of their plan. However, there have been few explicit efforts to bring together practitioners and researchers from the Global South and those in the Global North engaged in international development work to share their mutual experiences.

The aim of this workshop is to facilitate a networking opportunity between Global South and Global North researchers and practitioners engaged in technology design in international development work for mutual learning and sharing. We aim to discuss projects, methods, challenges and issues when working in development and research in both hemispheres, and to collectively work towards improving our relations, and uncovering techniques and issues in community centered design and development work.

This workshop will offer a space to exchange experiences, to explore differences between developed and developing world contexts, to develop new partnerships, and to learn from each other about problems we have encountered and the techniques that work that we have discovered. It will be open to anyone with experience or interest in user-centered and participatory design, and/or international development.

The workshop will be held over two days (February 23-24, 2008).

• On Day 1, participants will briefly present their position papers and identify relevant common themes. Participants will select a small number of design challenges for practical brainstorming and collaborative exploratory design activities. In the evening, an informal dinner will be organized to facilitate relationship-building between participants.
• On Day 2, participants will share their experiences, insights and analysis of relevant projects that relate to the identified themes. Opportunities for collaboration will also be identified. The possibility of developing joint projects as an output of the workshop will also be discussed, such as a book, film, publications, human network, specific project and policy development.

In addition, we will hold an optional immersion day on February 22, 2008 prior to the workshop. This will be particularly for researchers who are not familiar with the specific context of South Africa to experience local sights and ICT-assisted development projects in and around Cape Town. Participants will be divided into groups and attend 1-2 events and activities around the city of Cape Town to see the local culture and to find out more about local projects. The cost of the immersion visits will be approximately 400 Rand (dependent on numbers). Our hope is to film these experiences and edit this into a short documentary film as an output for the workshop on local culture and projects.

To participate in this workshop at DIS 2008, please submit a 1- or 2-page position paper describing your experience, findings or interests relevant to the themes of the workshop. Deadline for submissions is January 14, 2008. Notification of acceptance by January 21, 2008. Papers can be submitted by email to Andy Dearden at a.m.dearden@shu.ac.uk.

Organizers:

Nuray Aykin, The New School (USA)
Michael Best, Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
Marshini Chetty, Georgia Institute of Technology (USA)
Andy Dearden, Sheffield Hallam University (UK)
Susan Dray, Dray and Associates, Inc. (USA)
Matthew Kam, University of California, Berkeley (USA)
Andrew Maunder, University of Cape Town (South Africa)
John Thomas, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center (USA)
Heike Winscheirs, Polytechnic of Namibia (Namibia)