Reflexive engagement: enacting reflexivity in design and for 'participation in plural'

Abstract

This paper joins the discussion on participation in Participatory Design (PD) by proposing reflexivity as an orientation for engaging in design and for the plurality of participation. Based on our study in which a social media-supported collaboration model was designed with professionals working against workplace harassment, the paper recounts how the designer--researcher's reflexive orientation allowed participation to be uncovered as manifold and dynamic and how this affected the design process. We discuss the critical sensitivity and attentiveness enacted in design practice as reflexive engagement that encouraged negotiations of roles, goals, and technology. Regarding participation, we discuss reflexive engagement with multiple relationships, participatory assemblies and their intersections and overlaps---participation in plural---in our study. We conclude by proposing the conceptualization of reflexive engagement as an orientation for PD designers to engage in the particularities of situated design practices, while holding to the ethical (political), practical and creative commitments of PD.