Socio-Technical Aspirations

Individual- or community-driven ambition and desire to own or use a specific technology for personal benefit or societal acceptance or both. This concept, introduced by Sharma et al. (2020) as an extension to frameworks for assistive technology design, captures how technology desires exist independently of current infrastructure—people may aspire to specific technologies regardless of whether they currently have access. Understanding socio-technical aspirations helps designers create more sustainable assistive technologies by aligning with stakeholder motivations rather than just addressing immediate access gaps.