Follow the Bean: Navigating Value Exchange and Vulnerability with Farmers and their Stakeholders

Follow the Bean: Navigating Value Exchange and Vulnerability with Farmers and their Stakeholders

2009

Latin America and the CaribbeanEast Africa

Mexico, Guatemala, Tanzania

This project proposes to investigate how individuals earning as little as a dollar a day manage and consider value systems. By using photography, interviews, observation and video recordings to create detailed surveys of objects of value, the proposal will study alternate methods for the exchange of goods and services, and emotional experiences around specific value systems of individuals in poverty. Design implications will inform the development of a financial service prototype derived from the findings in the field. This research is inspired by the growing need for interactive technology that addresses diverse dialects and varying levels of illiteracy.

Melissa Cliver

Melissa Cliver is a researcher and designer based in Seattle Washington. Melissa holds a Masters of Design from Carnegie Mellon where she studied interaction and service design with an emphasis on social entrepreneurship and HCI. She is currently researching and developing financial services for coffee farmers and workers in rural Oaxaca, Mexico in association with the Financial Alliance for Sustainable Trade (FAST). She also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University. Melissa is particularly interested in designing technology and systems supporting everyday experiences in the financial and health care sectors.