Participatory Design

Participatory design was instigated by computer scientists in Norway and Denmark in early seventies collaborating with union representatives, and by social scientists at the Swedish Center of Working Life consulting in cases where introduction of ICT was expected to cause major changes in work organization and competence. These projects had its roots and inspiration in an action research methodology inspired from the milestone research in social psychology and economy by Jahoda, Freeman and Rosenberg. Participatory design deals with wicked problems without knowing solutions, builds on the creativity of non-lead users, eventually in no conscious need-state, and comprises work organization and competence development in addition to operability, experience and satisfaction.

Participatory design of ICT