Indigenist Technology Co-Design and Co-Development—with for and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their countries, cultures and knowledges.

Speaker(s): Susan Beetson, University of Queensland

Description: Indigenist technology co-design and co-development (ITCD2) turns the lens on technology research, design and development. ITCD2 is an approach to decolonising existing technology design and development. This approach facilitates a process for all researchers, designers and developers to critically analyse their own methods and biases. It does so by scaffolding of the understandings of those biases derived within the contexts of social, institutional and political dimensions that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' lives in Australia. This is important because these understandings influence the way researchers and technologists think about technology design and development with, for and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' country, cultures and knowledges. This approach extends existing design and development approaches and minimises the perpetuation of colonial interpretations and (re)constructions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ countries, cultures and knowledges into existing technologies.

Bio of Speaker: Susan Beetson is a Wiradjuri and Ngemba Research Academic within the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (ITEE) at The University of Queensland and member of the Co-Innovation research group within ITEE. Her research focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' co-design methods in human computer interaction; specifically, in relation to mobile and ubiquitous technologies within social, community and language learning contexts. As Wiradjuri and Ngemba and grown up on Country, her lived experiences of social, institutional and political dimensions that impact Aboriginal peoples' lives in Australia enables Susan to critically analyse and reflect broadly and reflexively throughout her research.