"Nothing about us, without us": an investigation into the justification for Indigenous peoples to be involved in every step of Indigenous digital product design

This paper focuses on the experiences of built coalitions between the authors, students and the Indigenous peoples involved in a study of digital design. Ontario Tech University has been working with the Indigenous communities of the First Nations in Ontario, Canada. The report begins with a brief overview of the issues faced by the Indigenous communities in Canada. For example, retaining their traditional language, knowledge, and culture on their traditional lands. The paper then outlines the study's design and methods to understand how technology may help the Indigenous community address these issues. To do this, the authors set up a course project for 21 graduate students in Computer Science at Ontario Tech University in Winter 2021. The students were formed into nine groups. Each group was assigned the design and development an interactive design product prototype that would address some of the Indigenous community’s social issues considering user experience and co-design from the outset. Lastly, the report shares the findings of the study and discusses the success of ‘Nothing about us, without us’ and how the prototypes may ameliorate the issues faced by the Indigenous peoples. The takeaway that we aim for is an understanding that no matter how honourable it may seem to create something on their behalf, it is essential to involve the primary culture/language speakers. We also intend to create a model for this mutual collaboration which then can be pursued to enable mutually respectful relationships. Following the old adage, “give a man an app, and he will use it for one day, teach a man to design an app and he will share it with the world.”