Moving Virtual Reality out of its Comfort Zone and Into the African Kalahari Desert Field: Experiences From Technological Co-Exploration With an Indigenous San Community in Namibia

Indigenous people (IP) living in remote areas, at the margins of
mainstream society, are often the last ones to experience emerging
technologies and even less to shape those experiences. It could be
argued technology exposure and experience is necessary for IP
to gain agency in making informed decisions on the rejection or
appropriation of novel technologies. In this paper, VR is introduced
to a remote San community within a broader community-based
research collaboration considering political and ethical perspectives
of technology inclusion. The intent was to familiarise the community
with the technology through the development and playthrough
of a game, to explore future opportunities for joint co-designs of
VR applications, meanwhile gauging the barriers for how VR operates
outside of its intended setting. The community members
expressed their excitement about the experience and the desire to
re-create traditional San games in VR. The paper reflects on the
community experiences, the setup and use of VR in remote settings,
and the choices made to facilitate the familiarization of emerging
technology