Bringing marginalized communities into the innovation journey: Digital storytelling as a means to express the better future for San people

Abstract

Inclusive innovation builds on overcoming poverty through the creative power and problem-solving capacity of the poor. While the concept is met with increasing interest from policymakers, it is not clear how this collaboration is actually taking place. This paper introduces digital storytelling (DST) as a method to successfully give marginalized communities a voice in collaborative innovation processes. In contrast to previous experiences with DST that mainly look backward, we applied the technique in a pilot study to envisage a better future with the San community in Platfontein. This paper describes how the method was employed to engage community members to share their thoughts and ideas through DST. We further show that for these insights to become meaningful inputs for innovation, they need to be interrogated through thematic analysis by service design specialists. The method revealed a rich source of new ideas and thinking for contemporary service delivery.

Keywords:

• service design
• innovation
• open innovation
• digital storytelling

Notes

1 Von Hippel's works on democratized innovation (2005) or his recent book on free innovation (2017) provide the framework for these developments.