Participatory Design (Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics)

This book introduces Participatory Design to researchers and students in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI). Grounded in four strong commitments, the book discusses why and how Participatory Design is important today. The book aims to provide readers with a practical resource, introducing them to the central practices of Participatory Design research as well as to key references. 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. It is structured around 11 questions arranged in 3 main parts that provide the knowledge needed to get started with practicing Participatory Design. Each chapter responds to a question about defining, conducting, or the results of carrying out Participatory Design. The authors share their extensive experience of Participatory Design processes and thinking by combining historical accounts, cases, how-to process descriptions, and reading lists to guide further readings so as to grasp the many nuances of Participatory Design as it is practiced across sectors, countries, and industries.

Professor Susanne Bødker has done research in Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, and Participatory Design since the 1980s. She was involved with starting the International Participatory Design (PDC) conference series. She does current research on how grassroot communities share technologies and on the collaboration between citizens and public organizations through technological mediation.Christian Dindler is Associate Professor of Participatory Interaction Design at Aarhus University and has worked with Participatory Design in areas such as schools and museums for more than a decade. He has published research at PDC since 2008 and taken part in organizing several PDC conferences. In his current research, he explores how Participatory Design processes unfold in industry settings and how stakeholders deal with ethical issues in design practice.Professor Ole Sejer Iversen is director of the Center for Computational Thinking & Design at Aarhus University,Denmark. For the past seven years, he has been in the steering committee of the Participatory Design conference series and served as technical program chair of the PDC conference in 2014. During the past decades, Professor Iversen has published intensively on research related to values in Participatory Design especially with children and teens as collaborators in the design process.Rachel Charlotte Smith is Associate Professor of human-centered design at Aarhus University. Her research focuses on advancing human and participatory approaches to technology in people’s everyday life, in education, cultural institutions, and industry. She is currently chair of the PDC steering committee. In 2016, she chaired the PDC conference, and has since been actively engaged in the PDC steering committee and community.