Towards the use of Participatory Methods in Cybersecurity research in rural Africa: A grassroots Approach

Abstract

As a research domain, Cybersecurity has been around for a long time. However, research methods and outputs have been deeply rooted in western epistemologies, thus leaving pockets of communities in rural Africa at possible risk. Even though some research on the African continent aims to address cybersecurity awareness, they still utilize a top-down approach, with interventions designed and developed for rural end users often without their input. This position paper proposes a new research focus in cybersecurity research within rural communities in Africa and for cybersecurity research in rural African communities. Participatory methods have been utilized in human-computer interactions research with greater impact of end-product adoptability, sense of ownership of communities involved and overall design implications for design research as a whole. We therefore argue that for cybersecurity research to have sustainable effects for these communities on the fringes of society, a participatory design approach needs to be considered in cybersecurity research.