Decolonizing Computing and the Quest for Ontological Justice - Putting Fourth-Wave HCI/IxD Into Practice
Manuhuia Barcham · 2023
This paper takes as its starting point the emergent literature on issues of justice and decolonization in the HCI/IxD field and their focus on the ways in which current computing systems unwittingly (but perhaps knowingly) perpetuate existing forms of systemic violence by ignoring oppressive histories and sustained negative impacts against certain groups of people. Linking this to the ontological turn underway in a range of disciplines the paper then looks at how these ideas open up the possibility for the achievement of ontological justice for groups marginalized by the colonial nature of computing. The paper then explores these ideas through a discussion of the experiences of New Zealand Māori hapū (clans) building out computing infrastructures as part of their resurgence as groups. The paper ends by discussing the ways in which a distinction between upstream and downstream design can provide greater purchase of how we might be able to bring out the shifts that are required to achieve a space of ontological justice through a shift into Fourth-Wave HCI/IxD.