What: TEDx talk: experiencing a different culture of land: lessons of a technologist

Where: TEDx Münster

When: September 2017

Who: Malumbo Chipofya of University of Münster

Why:  University of Münster’s Malumbo Chipofya highlighted why it is important for projects working on technologies in different parts of the world to focus on local needs of the communities that the technologies are addressing. Malumbo gave his talk to diverse audience at TEDx Münster in September this year. Malumbo’s talk brought out the cultural challenges that face designers working in unfamiliar societies and why flexibility, openness, and respect are not only useful but necessary if one is to make progress in such situations. Developing relationships with communities takes time and maintaining them requires effort.

On the particular subject of land information the talk points out that talking about land outside the domain of land use and traditional land relationships is ineffective. For example, he notes that the Maasai peoples of Kenya have a very rich land culture but this richness is lost in main stream land information systems – i.e. those based on property rights. The inclusion of these cultural aspects of land information into current land information systems (whether official or informal) is therefore long overdue.

Watch the talk ‘Experiencing a different culture of land: lessons of a technologist’ of Malumbo Chipofya below.