Sociolinguistic coordination devices in cross-cultural co-design interactions

Collaborative design methods are widely regarded as effective ways to involve diverse voices in the design process. Recent design-oriented research highlights disparities in the effort and types of engagement required by different stakeholder groups participating in collaborative design activities. This work inspired us to audit our own co-design practices in a multidisciplinary digital mental health project with faith healers in Ghana. We conducted a self-assessment of contextual interviews and co-design sessions with faith healers drawing on Clark’s sociolinguistic theory of common ground to identify verbal coordination practices and patterns. We offer insights about the nature of our own coordination practices as an example of the ways that attending to the trajectory of coordination throughout a collaborative design process can provide an important tool for multiple voices to contribute to complex high risk/high reward interventions. We discuss implications of this approach to self-assessment for our ongoing project and as a case study of coordination made legible to diverse stakeholders.