Information Systems Design in Marginalized Communities: A Context-Aware Perspective on Design Requirements

An early step in designing information systems (IS) is eliciting design requirements. Traditionally, these requirements focus on product characteristics, such as desired functionalities. However, this technology-centered approach often neglects the broader context of IS design, which significantly influences project outcomes. While IS scholars emphasize the importance of context awareness, clear guidance on achieving it remains lacking-particularly for marginalized communities, where the context differs substantially from that of typically non-marginalized researchers and developers. Marginalized communities, such as the Deaf community, possess distinct cultural identities shaped by histories of discrimination and exclusion. Successfully conducting IS research and design in these contexts demands profound context awareness. We derive our argument for the importance of context awareness from the theory of Value Sensitive Design and the principles of sociotechnical design. We propose that context awareness is essential for the project to be perceived as legitimate by the marginalized community, which is crucial for the project's success. To help researchers become more context-aware, we present 42 design requirements resulting from a two-year iterative design science research project conducted in collaboration with the Deaf community. These design requirements encompass the research project, the IS design process, and the final product. This article contributes to the literature on inclusive IS design, Value Sensitive Design, and the development of assistive technologies.