The Politics of Participation in Interaction Design
Frederick van Amstel
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Abstract
In response to market needs, researchers and designers in Interaction Design are experimenting new ways of enabling user participation in information systems development. However, the same conceptualization of the participant as a user already reduces his possibility of participation. The user are not capable of designing, so there is a need for experts that can translate their needs into design definitions. Even though participatory design exercises involving users are being promoted, the goal is not to autonomize participants to their own new technology development, but instead to generate user representations in order to improve targeting new products. It´s an abstract inclusion and concrete exclusion, that legitimates technological dependence of a particular social group. Participatory Design as in the scandinavian tradition proposes that this perverse logic should be questioned in the design process, with the goal of generating alternatives that really promote participant´s social development. This participatory approach can lead Interaction Design beyond the microstructures of interaction: interfaces, technics, tasks and other intrinsic details that don´t comprehend the cultural density of the process.
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