discontinuities between photos, but we were particularly struck by the flow and rhythm of a group whose members fluidly, and seemingly intuitively, took turns speaking without pausing, and the way their interactions reveal a shared familiarity with local routines and paths.

When we gave the resulting
digital-storytelling application to
integrate his body and surroundings,
nor how they orient us. Further,
when we, and sometimes the healer,
record, he tends to walk ahead of
us and then stand to talk, gesture,
and touch a plant; but when no one
records the telling, we walk between
plants together and he talks along-
side us. Our paces and conversation
adapt to each other and the ter-
called the Audio Pacemaker, to
support meaning making in shar-
ing information asynchronously
while walking [ 4]. I mention it here
because although the concept arose
in going along, I validated it with
meanings made in separate obser-
vations. The Pacemaker concept
aims to align the tempo at which a
listener encounters information as

a traditional healer in Namibia to
record his indigenous knowledge
(IK), he did not use it. Like other
prototypes we have introduced to
this healer to help teach his IK, the
application was unsuited to his
practice of gathering, preparing,
and treating with herbs. To explore
these mismatches, we analyzed his
and other local people’s interactions
with devices and media, and also
the details of walks and discussions
that we did or did not record audio-
visually [ 3]. We found that photos
and video alone cannot depict the
tempo and texture of his speech,
gestures, movement, and physical
interaction with plants, how these
rains; this shapes the meanings we
create, such as about relationships
between plants and between plants
and healing. When standard tech-
nologies (from clocks to compasses
and lenses to screens) interact with
walking, they effect and affect
actions that engender meanings.
Our digital-storytelling application
does not force users to take multiple
photos or restrict audio length, but
it does involve interacting with a
visual interface, which competes
for attention to surroundings and
other people, and conflicts with
oscillations that walking produces.

November + December 2012