Abstract
Workers are not often included in the development of new technologies which will impact their everyday work. Collaborative design (co-design) has emerged as a method for addressing this issue, though it is never a straightforward, easy process – particularly when including workers and other marginalised end-users in technology design processes. Drawing on insights from anticolonial science and technology studies (STS), this dissertation explores what the experience and expertise of agricultural workers can contribute the development of a VR vine-pruning training tool designed by the MaaraTech Project—a transdisciplinary, multi-university, co-design project based in Aotearoa New Zealand. It also explores how technology designers can meaningfully include agricultural workers and other relevant end- users in the development of new agricultural technologies, and how this inclusion would be beneficial for the agricultural workers, local labour recruitment agencies, Aotearoa’s viticultural industry, and for those developing the technology.
Insights from this research are based on semi-structured interviews – conducted mainly in the winter of 2021 – with 12 research participants working in Aotearoa’s viticultural industry. My analysis highlights the importance of inclusion for the development of socially relevant technologies. I define socially relevant technologies as technologies designed in ways which align with the needs and values of the end-users, and which fulfil their intending purpose. However, insights from my participants and my own observations also illustrate how inclusive co-design is never a straightforward process. Thus, I offer a number of recommendations into how people engaging in inclusive co-design can better attend to and navigate how power is working within technology design processes, particularly those designing technologies intended to support workers.