{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,7]],"date-time":"2026-07-07T15:17:56Z","timestamp":1783437476923,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":58,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]],"date-time":"2025-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741132800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Technological artifacts designed by individuals from developing nations often do not flourish in developing regions. Many authors conducting work in these regions have therefore called on researchers to make use of co-design in order to mitigate power imbalances, include the voices of communities in the design of technology intended for them, and design and build more contextually situated technology. Many of these authors also refer to the need for co-design readiness in their work. However, little is known about how co-design readiness can be articulated and achieved, especially when working with rural communities. In this paper, we make use of qualitative meta-analysis to interrogate the data from three distinct case studies in order to investigate co-design readiness. We found that co-design readiness comprises three forms, namely: (1) emotional readiness built through trust, relationship building, and empathy; (2) cultural readiness, which requires that researchers and participants have an awareness and respect for each other\u2019s cultural values and beliefs; and, finally, (3) readiness in terms of confidence and familiarity with the technologies used which can be achieved through careful and strategic methodological decisions. We found that researchers should explicitly plan for readiness and should not assume that readiness will grow organically and that co-design, if planned well is a lengthy process. Finally, we provide learnings from our work to how co-design readiness can be achieved through planning and methodological decisions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/iwc\/iwaf005","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,6]],"date-time":"2025-02-06T07:27:06Z","timestamp":1738826826000},"page":"201-213","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Fostering co-design readiness in South Africa"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"38","author":[{"given":"Sarina","family":"Till","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science , Independent Institute of Education, Durban, South Africa \/ School of Information Technology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nervo","family":"Verdezoto Dias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science and Informatics , Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melissa","family":"Densmore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Information Technology , University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"419","DOI":"10.1145\/3357236.3395516","article-title":"Design card sets: systematic literature survey and card sorting study","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 2020 ACM designing interactive systems conference, DIS \u201920","author":"Aarts","year":"2020"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1080\/15710882.2020.1722177","article-title":"Readiness for contingency: punctuation, poise, and co-design","volume":"16","author":"Akama","year":"2020","journal-title":"CoDesign"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref3","first-page":"101","article-title":"Stories from the field: reflections on hci4d experiences","volume":"5","author":"Anokwa","year":"2009","journal-title":"Information Technologies & International Development"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"942","DOI":"10.1145\/3461778.3462085","article-title":"Designing visual cards for digital mental health research with ethnic minorities","volume-title":"Designing interactive systems conference 2021, DIS \u201921","author":"Ayobi","year":"2021"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1145\/3419249.3420126","article-title":"Beyond health literacy: Navigating boundaries and relationships during high-risk pregnancies: Challenges and opportunities for digital health in north-west india","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 11th Nordic conference on human-computer interaction: shaping experiences, shaping society, NordiCHI \u201920","author":"Bagalkot","year":"2020"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.2005.204","article-title":"The case for technology in developing regions","volume":"38","author":"Brewer","year":"2005","journal-title":"Computer"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.2005.204","article-title":"The case for technology in developing regions","volume":"38","author":"Brewer","year":"2005","journal-title":"Computer"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref8","first-page":"1","article-title":"Reconsidering priorities for digital maternal and child health: community-centered perspectives from South Africa","author":"Coleman","year":"2023","journal-title":"Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CSCW2)"},{"key":"2026030400301609200_ref9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S3401","DOI":"10.1080\/14606925.2017.1352844","article-title":"Providing fast flowing calm waters. 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