Public:Session 5

Session 5: Participatory/emancipatory design

Topic outline & prep infos

• Sat, 25 May 2019, 11:00–16:00
• HS 1

In this session we want to get closer to practices of participation when it comes to designing and developing things, artefacts, systems and processes. We will take a look at participation in a general sense and then particularly discuss its meaning in regard to technology. This session is also a preparation for our own projects and we will start to work out ideas on which we would like to experiment in the follow-up session next week.

Required preparation

• read: Robertson, T., & Simonsen, J. (2013). Participatory Design: an introduction. In J. Simonsen & T. Robertson (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Design (pp. 1–18). Routledge.
• read the transcript or watch the talk: Allison Parrish: Programming is Forgetting: Toward a New Hacker Ethic, Open Hardware Summit 2016.

Guiding questions for the required preparation:

• What does participation mean & how is it enacted in Participatory Design projects?
• Which roles are there in Participatory Designs and what is their function?
• How does that compare with participation in hacking?
• Which different forms of participation are there in hacking and Participatory Design?

Optional, but suggested further reading:

• Arnstein, S. R. (1969). A Ladder of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Planning Association, 35(4), 216–224.

Suggestions for peer teaching

• Participatory case studies:
  • How can participation be enacted in designing things and systems? In which processes should participation happen and who should participate? Which experiences from specific participatory projects can we take and apply in other projects and different domains of design and development?
  • Wagner, I., Basile, M., Ehrenstrasser, L., Maquil, V., Terrin, J.-J., & Wagner, M. (2009). Supporting community engagement in the city: urban planning in the MR-tent. In Proceedings of the fourth international conference on Communities and technologies (pp. 185–194). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1556460.1556488
  • Elovaara, P., Igira, F. T., & Mörtberg, C. (2006). Whose participation? whose knowledge?: exploring PD in Tanzania-Zanzibar and Sweden. In Proceedings of the ninth conference on Participatory design: Expanding boundaries in design - Volume 1 (pp. 105–114). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1147261.1147277
  • One or two case studies in:
    • Simonsen, J., & Robertson, T. (Eds.). (2013). Routledge International Handbook of Participatory Design. Routledge.
• (Self-)Empowerement of Users:
  • What is the actual role of users when designing things and systems? How much does our understanding of users influence our designs? Which techniques for a productive involvement of users in design and technology are there?
  • Oudshoorn, N., & Pinch, T. (2005). How Users Matter: The Co-construction of Users And Technology. Mit Press.
  • Christina Lindsay: From the Shadows: Users as Designers, Producers, Marketers, Distributors, and Technical Support. 29-50
  • Hagen, P., & Robertson, T. (2012). Social Technologies: The Changing Nature of Participation in Design. Design Issues, 28(3), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00163