Participatory design: Structure in the toolbox

Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 1998

We characterize Participatory Design (PD) as a maturing area of research and as an evolving practice among design professionals. Although PD has been applied outside of technology design, here we focus on PD in relation to the introduction of computer-based systems at work. We discuss three main issues addressed by PD researchers; the politics of design; the nature of participation; and method, tools and techniques for participation. We also report on the conditions for the transfer of “PD results” to workers, user groups, and design professionals that have characterized PD over time and across geopolitical terrains. The topic of the sustainability of PD within an organizational context is also considered. The article concludes with a discussion of common issues explored within PD and CSCW and frames directions for a continuing dialogue between researchers and practitioners from the two fields. The article draws on a review of PD and CSCW literatures as well as on our own research and practical experiences.

2004

Participatory Design (PD) methods have traditionally been oriented towards small, local workplaces with homogeneous user groups and thereby on a subset of IT applications. This study presents a renewed PD framework suited to the context of large organisations and the design of comprehensive IS, using design data from an IT project in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the participative design of an information system for all its 225 000 trade union shop stewards. The framework was developed in response to six major obstacles for success in PD projects, identified by participatory action research methods.

1996

Basing our findings on experience from a participatory system development process in the Swedish project Distance Supported Learning for Local Knowledge Needs (DLK) we present and discuss the DISC-method for participatory scenario creation. We argue that, in large and distributed Participatory Design projects, the method can be suitable to aid participant selection and create a shared understanding of the current situation while preserving the democratic and multi-disciplinary character of Participatory Design.

2012

2016

Participatory Design PD is an approach that promotes the involvement of end-users in interactive software design. PD can be beneficial to software quality but can also raise concerns on pragmatical levels. There is no technique to help designers decide on adopting PD besides their experience on the matter. This paper proposes an objective questionnaire that gives clear indications for this decision, with confidence grading and coherence analysis. The instrument, called POP, can be used by non experts on PD, designers, developers and software analysts. The instrument has been validated by PD experts and by interactive software developers. POP was conceived for the development of educational video games but can be applied to a wider variety of systems. Results show that POP is able to clearly indicate when a project can benefit from PD, and to also give clues on the difficulties it would be facing. POP allows PD to be considered into projects that otherwise, would never evaluate how b...

2012

This article is a call to describe Participatory Design (PD) projects in the making, i.e. to show how the heterogeneous elements in the field are gradually organised in a participatory manner as the projects progress. It is based on two arguments. The first is a negative argument. Very often, PD projects are not described in the making. As a result, the landmarks to be used to evaluate them remain unclear or invisible. The second argument is of a more positive nature. The articles that do describe projects in the making enable landmarks to be defined that can be effectively used to evaluate PD projects. The notion of emerging groups is one of these landmarks.

2019

Participatory Design (PD) is a design approach which aims to support users to contribute as partners throughout the entire design process of a product or service intended for their use. PD researchers are interested in employing and/or developing methods and techniques that maximise users’ contributions. By accommodating specific populations, PD proved to offer unique benefits when designing technology for “fringe” groups. However, a lack of understanding of the appropriateness of existing approaches across groups and contexts presents a challenge for the PD community. This workshop will encourage discussion around this challenge. The participants will have the opportunity to exchange and reflect on their experiences with using PD with “fringe” groups. Moreover, we aim to identify, synthesise and collate PD best practices across contexts and participant groups.

2009

Distributed participatory design aspires to standards of inclusivity and humanity in introducing technology to the workplace that are hard to attain. The demands it makes upon the development and use of computing technology are particularly topical, as the potential for automation and distribution through embedded and mobile devices continues to develop. Standard views of computation propose ways in which to interpret all products of computing as programs, but give limited conceptual support for understanding computer-based design artifacts whose role in communication and elaboration eludes capture in a functional specification. Empirical Modelling is a body of principles and tools that can be applied to the development of a variety of computer-based artifacts relating to analysis, design and use that are most appropriately interpreted as construals rather than programs. This paper, a revised and extended version of Beynon and Chan (2006), illustrates some of the ways in which Empirical Modelling principles can be used in developing construals that can assist distributed participatory design. The theme adopted for illustrative purposes is that of understanding the quintessentially British game of cricket, renowned for the complexity and subtlety of its rules and its rich concepts and vocabulary.

2016

collaborative approach based on short time scales to

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 2016

The paper explores what exactly it is that users participate in when being involved in participatory design (PD), relating this discussion to the CSCW perspective on collaborative design work. We argue that a focus on decision-making in design is necessary for understanding participation in design. Referring to Schön we see design as involving creating choices, selecting among them, concretizing choices and evaluating the choices. We discuss how these kinds of activities have played out in four PD projects that we have participated in. Furthermore, we show that the decisions are interlinked, and discuss the notion of decision linkages. We emphasize the design result as the most important part of PD. Finally, participation is discussed as the sharing of power, asking what the perspective of power and decision-making adds to the understanding of design practices.

Journal of Design, Planning and Aesthetics Research

Participatory design is the involvement of people in the creation and management of their built and natural environments. Its strengths are that it cuts across traditional professional boundaries and cultures. The activity of participatory design is based on the principle that the built and natural environments work better if citizens are active and involved in its creation and management instead of being treated as passive consumers. The main purposes of participation are to involve citizens in planning and design decision-making processes and, as a result increase their trust and confidence in organizations, making it more likely that they will work within established systems when seeking solutions to problems; to provide citizens with a voice in planning, design and decision-making in order to improve plans, decisions, service delivery, and overall quality of the environment; and to promote a sense of community by bringing people together who share common goals. A wide range of t...

Participatory Design, 2002

Historically, participatory design (PD) has focused on system development at design time by bringing developers and users together to envision contexts of use. But despite the best efforts at design time, systems need to evolve at use time to fit new needs, account for changing tasks, and incorporate new technologies. In this paper, we argue that systems should be designed