Scandinavian Participatory Design

The discussion argues that three principles distinguish Scandinavian approaches to participatory design: striving for democracy and demo-cratisation; explicit discussions of values in design and. As Scandinavian Participatory Design (PD) approach is a highly values-led design approach, and is gaining importance in IDC research, we discuss the underlying values of democracy, quality of work and emancipation of this approach. 1.

Introduction Participatory Design (PD) is a design approach aimed at developing technologies with close involvement from stakeholders - especially those most affected by the result, often end users. Participatory Design typically involves multiple rounds of requirements gathering, prototype development, implementation, and evaluation (Hardie 1988). Originating in Scandinavian countries in.

This Scandinavian approach might be called a work-oriented design approach. Democratic participation and skill enhancement, and not only productivity and product quality, are themselves considered objective of design. This lecture by Pelle Ehn gives an overview of how design practice and research has developed during the last 100 years.

The viewpoint is from the Scandinavian School of Participatory Design. Participatory design has its roots in northern Europe with the combination of two research programs studying the empowerment of workers with respect to technology. It is generally seen as developing from the Scandinavian "collective resources" research program that focused on union empowerment in contract bargaining situations through the education of union officials and members about.

"Scandinavian participatory design approaches emphasise change and development, not only technological change and systems development, but change and development of people, organisations, and practices, occurring in changing socio-historical contexts." Gregory, J. (2003). Scandinavian approaches to participatory design.

This is done from the perspective of Scandinavian Participatory Design. The book is meant for students, researchers, and practitioners who are interested in Participatory Design for research studies, assignments in HCI classes, or as part of an industry project. Within the research fields relating to design of ICT systems the Scandinavian countries have a rich history of incorporating disadvantaged groups in societies.

This paper argues for the relevance of participatory design in development research.