Personas¶
Illustrative archetypes to guide design — not real individuals. To be replaced and enriched by real user research (see issue tracker, area: research).
Lindiwe, 16 — the curious teenager¶
Lives in a township in Gauteng; speaks isiZulu at home and English at school. Has a mid-range Android with limited data. Wants to know what the plants at her gogo's house in KwaZulu-Natal are and why gogo uses them. Needs: instant camera ID, names in isiZulu with audio, offline use, content that doesn't feel like a textbook.
Gogo Nomsa, 74 — the knowledge holder¶
Rural, speaks isiZulu, limited literacy in English, a smartphone gifted by a grandchild. Knows dozens of plants and their uses. Is wary of her knowledge being taken. Needs: to speak rather than type; to control who hears what; to see her name attached; to be asked respectfully, in her language, by the app and by family.
Thabo, 29 — the diaspora/urban professional¶
Born in Limpopo, works in Cape Town, speaks Tshivenda less than he'd like. Wants to cook his mother's dishes and teach his children words. Needs: recipes with ingredients mapped to plants available in the city, pronunciation audio, a way to ask family to contribute.
Dr. Naidoo, 45 — the ethnobotanist¶
University researcher. Cares deeply about provenance, voucher specimens, nomenclature and not putting people at risk. Needs: structured, citable data, taxonomic accuracy, ability to flag errors, safe-use review queues, export for research (with consent rules respected).
Sipho, 38 — the language custodian¶
A teacher and community leader for siSwati. Needs: tools to review and approve terminology, to see what's missing, to ensure his language is not machine-translated into awkwardness, and recognition for the work.
Ms. Jacobs, 52 — the community-programme coordinator¶
Runs a heritage programme in the Northern Cape and works with Khoi and San communities. Needs: strong community-level controls, TK Labels, the ability to restrict or remove, and confidence that nothing sacred will be exposed or used to train a model.