Indigenous African artefacts: Can they serve as tangible programming objects?

In this paper we are interested in determining if there is indeed an opportunity to use existing traditional African artefacts as tangible programming elements in computing systems. Research to date has focussed on the design of new artefacts for use in tangible environments. These artefacts are based on Western perceptions. Prior research has also shown that, when introducing new concepts to a developing region, as much of the local content as possible should be incorporated into the new technology. It would therefore be prudent to investigate which dimensions of African artefacts can be exploited when developing tangible interfaces for rural Africa. In this paper we report on the results of a preliminary literature review aimed at identifying possible usable aspects of African artefacts as they pertain to tangible programming environments. A proposed tangible programming environment is given.