ments will change, policies will be reworked, and a project team’s ability to work with policies will evolve. Thus, a further challenge for HCI designers and researchers entails working with and building multi-lifespan information systems that can be responsive to and take advantage of those shifts when they do occur [ 9].

This article has explored policy tensions through a politically sensitive international case study. We expect interaction designers and researchers in other contexts to face analogous challenges as different levels of policy bump up against each other. In response to the policy tensions discussed above, we remain faithful to our original goals of widespread public access and reuse of the “Tribunal Voices” materials, albeit within the confines of existing public-security and domestic law. We welcome insight on how other researchers and designers have approached similar challenges.

contributed to all aspects of this work. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 0325035 and 0849270, UW Foundation, and generous gifts to the “Tribunal Voices” project. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our donors.

AbOut the AuthOrs Lisa P. Nathan is an
assistant professor at the School of Library, Archival
and Information Studies, University of British
Columbia. She teaches courses in information poli-
cy, information ethics, and a survey course on the
field of information studies. In addition to ongoing
work with the Voices from Rwanda project, Nathan is investigating
agile methods to support both information system designers and
policy makers in efforts to improve the influence of information sys-
tems on human values, particularly those of ethical import.

[ 9] Friedman, B., and Nathan, L. P. “Multi-lifespan Information System Design: A Research Initiative for the HCI com-munity.” Proceedings of CHI 2010 (2010): 2243–2246.

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants from the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for sharing their experiences, reflections, stories, and insights. We also thank the many Rwandan people and organizations that worked with us, including Never Again Rwanda, Hope After Rape, and the ICTR Documentation and Information Centres. The members of the “Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal” team

Batya Friedman is a professor in the Information
School at the University of Washington where she
directs the Value Sensitive Design Research Lab.
Known for her pioneering work in value sensitive
design, Friedman is currently working on methods
for envisioning and multi-lifespan information sys-
tem design—new ideas for leveraging information systems to
shape our future. These adaptive solutions fundamentally co-evolve
technology, policy and social structure. The “Voices from the
Rwanda Tribunal” is an initial project in this multi-lifespan informa-
tion system design effort.

DOi: 10.1145/1836216.1836231
© 2010 ACM 1072-5220/10/0900 $10.00