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Designing a story-based platform for HIV and AIDS counseling with Tanzanian children

Published: 03 June 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Our research was conducted within a larger HIV and AIDS counseling project in the southern part of Tanzania. We spent six months creating a pilot version of an interactive digital platform that would allow learners to share their experiences with the disease. The platform, called Sura ya UKIMWI (The Face of AIDS), was designed by a team consisting of secondary school children, university counseling students, HIV counseling experts and experts in ICT. We took the case study approach and report on observations and experiences with the participatory design (PD) process and its outcomes, in this specific context. The results of the project indicate that the technology created under the PD paradigm helps students to easily compose their own stories thereby supporting their understanding and reflection on how these stories relate to their own life experiences. Interacting with the stories was entertaining to the students and they could identify the lessons to be learned. The approach can be an alternative to past attempts that mostly imported technology for HIV and AIDS education. Our experience can be used as a guide in establishing similar digital projects in other parts of the HIV and AIDS affected world.

References

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Bednarik, R., Kamppuri, M., Tedre, M., Vesisenaho, M., Alternative to Technology-Driven Development: An Approach Based on Authentic Needs. Workshop on User Centred Design and International Development April 2007, CHI2007, 2007. Available at http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~mikeb/UCDandIDWorkshop/papers/kamppuri.pdf.
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Duveskog, M., Website of Sura ya UKIMWI environment, (2008). Available at http://www.surayaukimwi.com
[3]
Duveskog, M., Sutinen, E., Vesisenaho M., Gasso, C., HIV/AIDS education in Tanzania blended with a programming course. IEEE conference ITRE 2003, Newark, New Jersey, USA, August 10--13, 2003, 179--183.
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Epstein, H., The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West and the Fight against AIDS. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. 2007.
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Formulation of Health Sector HIV/AIDS/STD Strategic Framework, Surveillance of HIV/AIDS/STDs and Sexual Behavior, The United Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Health National AIDS Control Programme, September 2002.
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Hare, H., Survey of ICT and Education in Africa: Tanzania Country Report, ICT in Education in Tanzania, InfoDev 2007, Available at: www.infodev.org/en/Document.432.aspx
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Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS epidemic update 2007, Regional Summary, UNAIDS. Available at http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/jc1526_epibriefs_ssaf rica_en.pdf
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ISO 13407 International standard. Human-centred design processes for interactive systems. Switzerland: International organization for standardization, 1999.
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Marais, M., Duveskog, M., Dlodlo, N., TekkiKids -- Experiences in Implementing Technology Clubs in a South African Context. 3rd International Conference on e- Learning, ICEL 2008, Cape Town, South Africa, June 2008.
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Mbugua, N., Strategies for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS among adolescents: The case of high school students in Kenya -In: HIV/AIDS in Africa. Beyond Epidemology. Ed by Ezekiel Kalipeni, Susan Craddock, Joseph R. Oppong, Jayati Ghosh. Blackwell Publishing 2004.
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Sharp, H., Rogers, Y., Preece, J., Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd ed., Wiley, 2007.
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Unicef, Voices for Youth. Available at http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/aids/explore_1360.html

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  • (2023)Child-to-Child Public Health Messaging through a Portable Craft Tech Interactive in Rural South AfricaProceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3585088.3589372(210-221)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
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  • (2017)I-SLATE: designing a culturally relevant framework for authentic learningSmart Learning Environments10.1186/s40561-017-0048-44:1Online publication date: 15-Dec-2017
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  1. Designing a story-based platform for HIV and AIDS counseling with Tanzanian children

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      IDC '09: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children
      June 2009
      347 pages
      ISBN:9781605583952
      DOI:10.1145/1551788
      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 ACM 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]

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      Published: 03 June 2009

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      Author Tags

      1. HIV and AIDS education
      2. ICT for development
      3. interactive stories
      4. participatory design

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      • Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Academy of Finland
      • Suomen Akatemia

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      IDC '09

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      View all
      • (2023)Child-to-Child Public Health Messaging through a Portable Craft Tech Interactive in Rural South AfricaProceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3585088.3589372(210-221)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
      • (2019)Restoration WorkProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/33591563:CSCW(1-26)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2019
      • (2017)I-SLATE: designing a culturally relevant framework for authentic learningSmart Learning Environments10.1186/s40561-017-0048-44:1Online publication date: 15-Dec-2017
      • (2014)Video diary as a means for data gathering with children – Encountering identities in the makingInternational Journal of Human-Computer Studies10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.02.00372:5(507-521)Online publication date: May-2014
      • (2012)Children’s Participation in Constructing the Future SchoolInternational Journal of Social and Organizational Dynamics in IT10.4018/ijsodit.20120401042:2(48-64)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2012

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