Social Media as an Indigenized Information World For Environmental Stewardship

The Mbeere people of Kenya are an 'Information World' (IW). Within this IW is a Facebook Group named UVA: Universal Voice for All-The Chance for Mbeere! (UVA). We describe how UVA, as a people-led social media space is being indigenized through the online activity of sharing information to meet environmental stewardship needs. By indigenized we refer to the process of rendering meaning intuitive to a place or people. Our ethnographic research methods include field observations; content analysis of social media; and semi-structured interviews with individuals and talking circles. We suggest tools and processes to further foster indigeneity on sites like UVA, and conclude that through such indigenization, UVA and other people-led social media spaces represent a new frontier in the application of African Sage wisdom for HCI design of indigenous environmental platforms.

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