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Developing an ethnobotanical application with and for Ovahimba communities

Published: 30 January 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Passing on of ethnobotanical knowledge orally is becoming a less common practice, thus resulting in knowledge loss for the future generation. Hence, it is crucial to digitally preserve ethnobotanical knowledge. A number of national ethnobotanical databases have been developed across the globe. However, They are mainly used for commercialisation or research purposes without providing access to the original knowledge holders. Moreover the indigenous communities mostly served as informants only not validating the digitalizations. This results in incompleteness, misinterpretations and inaccuracy of the digital data sets. Hence, the main objective of this project was to develop a digital tool with indigenous communities living in Kunene to support the safeguarding of traditional plant knowledge. Following a community-based co-design approach and an iterative prototyping development a mobile ethnographic app was implemented, enabling indigenous communities to collect and curate their own data, which they can then share with external entities.

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    AfriCHI '23: Proceedings of the 4th African Human Computer Interaction Conference
    November 2023
    343 pages
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    Published: 30 January 2024

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    Author Tags

    1. Codesign
    2. Ethnobotany
    3. Indigenous people
    4. Information Technology
    5. Namibia
    6. Ovahimba
    7. participatory design

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    AfriCHI 2023: 4th African Human Computer Interaction Conference
    November 27 - December 1, 2023
    East London, South Africa

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    • (2024)Ocean Relationalities: Exploring Ocean Connections Through the Lens of Augmented Reality and PhotostoriesProceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2024: Situated Actions, Doctoral Colloquium, PDC places, Communities - Volume 310.1145/3661456.3666062(52-54)Online publication date: 11-Aug-2024

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