Genocide. HIV/AIDS. Famine. Deforestation. Habitat destruction. Species extinction. Forced exodus. These problems share some commonalities. In one way or another, they entail widespread losses to human beings, to other sentient beings, or to the natural world; moreover, recovery from those losses is not likely within the time frame of a single human lifespan (if ever). It is also the case that information and the processes around information may have much to contribute to the solutions of these problems. How then might this class of problems be addressed through information system design? What unique opportunities exist for information systems and what roles might they play? In a field known for cutting edge innovation, where devices over five years old are regarded as legacy, how does one begin to consider processes and solutions that span periods that likely extend beyond a single human lifespan?
This proposed technical and social research initiative takes up the multi-lifespan design challenge by working with significant real world problem spaces to begin outlining possible opportunities and roles for information systems to help construct longer-term solutions. This inaugural project area is the information heritage of the United Nation's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The goals are twofold: (1) to contribute meaningful information system designs to the specific real world problems under study; and (2) to generate more general knowledge about the design of multi-lifespan information systems. This SGER will fund one research team and film crew to travel to Tanzania to conduct Futures Workshops and roughly 20 contextual interviews with ICTR personnel. This is time critical. As of January 1, 2009 the ICTR is scheduled to initiate a radical downsizing. The vast amount of knowledge in defining and implementing an international justice system will quickly dissolve as individuals scatter globally to find new career opportunities.
Broader impact. This is truly a multi-lifespan information system design effort. The project will address unique technical and social challenges through its efforts to create an information system that serves the needs of an international audience who access the system through a multiplicity of information tools. An adaptable infrastructure that preserves and manages the ICTR's information heritage for the next one hundred plus years and addresses the difficult challenges of privacy, access, and security will be highly relevant to other international tribunals.
