Indigenous Knowledges as Justificatory Knowledge in Design Science Research: An Expository Case
Kevin Shedlock, Alexander Q.H. Chung, Jacqueline Corbett, Zane Rawson · ACM SIGMIS Database the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems · 2025
In developing information technology (IT) artifacts to solve practical problems in society, design science research places a strong emphasis on the justificatory knowledge that informs their design. Historically, justificatory knowledge has privileged Western worldviews and scientific approaches, resulting in IT artifacts that discriminate against and exclude marginalized groups. As Indigenous peoples reclaim lost rights and seek to establish digital sovereignty, there is the need to understand and elevate the value of Indigenous knowledges within the design science paradigm. Building on the Indigenous Knowledge Integration Framework, this article discusses how Indigenous knowledges can directly inform IT design and demonstrates this potential using an expository case where Māori tribal protocols for pōwhiri (welcoming visitors) are used to structure the development of a large language model (LLM). The development of the LLM confirms that Indigenous knowledges can enhance the construction of IT artifacts. The contributions of the article lie in showing how Indigenous knowledges can be applied ex ante as justificatory knowledge, demonstrating how Indigenous knowledges intrinsically linked with minority languages can support the design and development of more inclusive LLMs, and charting a way toward more inclusive design science research and digital sovereignty for Indigenous and other marginalized peoples.