"It's More of a Lifestyle'': Design Considerations for Supporting Everyday Practices in Community-Based Farming

TL;DR

This paper explores how community-based farmers, especially within the Hmong community, rely on social ties and informal practices for knowledge sharing, and discusses designing technologies that support these cultural and social dynamics.

Contribution

It provides insights into the social mechanisms of knowledge transfer in community farms and offers design considerations for culturally sensitive technological support.

Findings

Social capital facilitates informal knowledge exchange.

Community ties support intergenerational knowledge passing.

Design opportunities for culturally aligned farming technologies.

Abstract

Farming plays a significant role in the economy by supporting related industries such as food, retail, and local services. Community-based small farms, while offering unique social and cultural benefits, face persistent challenges, including limited access to formal education and underdeveloped infrastructure, which have been discussed in prior research. This study focuses on community-driven factors, such as workarounds for recording critical information and practices for passing down farming knowledge across generations. Through 11 semi-structured interviews with farmers from a small ethnic community, the Hmong, we explore how bonding social capital, rooted in close family and community ties, supports informal knowledge exchange and creates pathways to bridging and linking capital. These relationships help farmers connect to broader networks, resources, and institutions. Our findings highlight opportunities for designing technologies that support and strengthen existing support systems. We discuss how technologies should be designed to reflect the cultural values, unique practices, and intergenerational relationships embedded in community-based farms.