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This paper engages with issues of universality and locality in the context of community-based participatory design (PD), and focuses on the challenges and opportunities associated with incorporating local views and forms of participation in the design process. The notion of 'designing for participation' is advanced as a quintessential perspective for approaches in which design practices are re-configured from a community-centric standpoint. Building on insights from PD and community development studies, as well as on empirical evidence from two community design studies, we argue that designing for participation appears to be located in a space between the designer's and local views of participation, which are at times both ambiguous and conflicting. To overcome these tensions, we argue for the importance of engaging critically and reflectively with PD in community contexts, and in this process capitalising on disciplinary dialogues that can expand the viewpoint from which PD projects are negotiated and evaluated.

Caregivers providing a care service to under-resourced communities do not have sufficient access to information and training. A mobile application was developed to enable caregivers to become active producers of their own information, which is in turn translated into mobile edutainment content. This facilitates informal, on-demand learning. Said mobile application is part of a larger collaborative project between universities and communities.An ethnographic study was conducted to determine caregivers' information needs, and participatory design methods were used to develop a prototype solution.The collaboration between the respective university and community members resulted in an active network. This relationship is marked by mutually beneficial partnerships, and distinct stakeholder roles. The experiences and insights gained during this project have framed the proposed collaborative university-community network

This paper discusses how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) supports tourism teaching in South African secondary schools. The researchers conducted an in-depth case study with 24 participants. An analysis reveals that teachers recognise ICT as essential in exposing students to the tourism industry. This is especially the case in under-resourced schools, where learners do not have the financial means to participate in tourism activities. However, ICT is still limited in its integration as a pedagogical support tool. The major obstacles toward integration include: technology anxiety, lack of training, availability of resources, and learner resistance to use their personal mobile devices.

Against the backdrop of a complex Higher Education (HE) landscape, particularly in a developing country context where the relevance of current HE structures is questioned through student protests, and decolonisation of education practices is called for, traditional thinking is losing ground. This study focuses on lecturers identified as eLearning champions, who display shared dispositions that mirror what the literature terms a 'design thinking mindset', such as collaboration, empathy for the learner and problem orientation. We argue that promoting this mindset in academic staff development interventions around the use of technology in teaching and learning could support more academics to innovate their practices. Recommendations for how findings of this study may inform the design of such learning interventions conclude the paper.

In this position paper, I discuss the intellectual politics of research philosophy in the field of Information Systems (IS). I make particular reference to the higher education landscape of South Africa, and attempt to trace personal and scholarly encounters with what I deem to be ‘paradigmatic thinking’. The aim of the ensuing discussion is to deepen the understanding of the politics of paradigms, as instantiated in IS research teaching and philosophy. This discussion attempts to broaden existing discourse by considering the university of technology as an emerging player in IS research philosophy. In particular, I consider paradigmatic thinking as the emergence of Disciplinary Kingdoms within which academics navigate the sacred grounds of philosophy, and rule over these with epistemological authority. I discuss these dynamics critically, and argue for conceptual‐critical undertakings in the research philosophy of IS that encourage autonomy, agency, and self‐reflection.

The article argues that a transdisciplinary approach can advance the field of Information Systems (IS). By taking a transdisciplinary approach, researchers reach beyond the bounds of their disciplinary ontology and epistemology in order to address complex phenomena. Such a high level of synthesis is not possible with interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. While these approaches have been deployed in the IS field, transdisciplinarity is still lacking. The article reviews the literature that indicates the relationship between transdisciplinarity and complexity, and posits that the former is a response to the latter. Following a conceptual research approach, it is demonstrated that mainstream IS research is interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary rather than transdisciplinary. Finally, it is argued that the IS field is a promising candidate for ascending up the transdisciplinary path that, in turn, can improve its development prospects.

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