ABSTRACT

Can cattle farmers live peacefully alongside lions, and what role can technology play in this sensitive setting? Since 2017, we have been investigating this question in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, using a Grounded Design (GD) approach. Based on community involvement we have been building and evaluating a system together with local and foreign experts which warns the locals when a lion comes near their village or their cattle and which has significantly reduced livestock predation by giving time for action. However, as our research shows, technology alone is not the solution for locals’ problems: education, knowledge transfer, economic self-determination, as well as the revival of herding traditions and lost connection to nature need to evolve further to foster a true coexistence between humans and predators in Botswana - and perhaps all over the world. To address these problems and solutions by design and ensure sustainability of its outcome, it is important to take into account the oral culture and collective history of the inhabitants with predators, especially lions. Consideration must also be given to their social environment and individual experiences and goals, as well as their digital infrastructure, accessibility, and digital ecologies. We therefore argue that the successful development of a design solution requires a holistic understanding of design that is built on inclusion, participation, collaboration, understanding, respect, sacredness and the always-recurrent cyclic renovation of life.