From my reading of research ethics and HCI and yesterday’s class, the IRB is responsible mostly for reviewing research using human as subjects. The process takes so much time; I saw the IRB application, which is about 27 pages, I was so surprised- I just said to myself, “Woah! Researchers have a lot of work!” I also learnt that at some point in history, ethical review boards didn’t know much about human computer interaction, so it was difficult for that type of research to be ethically approved.

Which brings me to the talk we had with Emilie on her research on natural interaction and color perception using VR in 2 rural communities in Namibia. I asked how she did to have the San community’s consent of the research. I also noticed that on her study of color perception in the Himba community, the names of the colors given by the chief and his wife were written by the translator using the English alphabet, and was wondering if the community doesn’t have an alphabet for their language. Emilie said she will ask if they can write it using their native language alphabet (if they know it). So, I am excited to see how it will go; it is very interesting to see, if possible, the name of those colors using their alphabet.