Participation for the unengaged

Abstract

In this paper we report from a project where high school students were involved in design for doing their taxes. Young people show little interest and engagement in doing taxes, and we cannot presuppose their engagement and active participation in the design. Our aim for the design process was to increase their interest in and knowledge about doing taxes by giving them a say in the design. When added to the PD techniques, the concepts ability, motivation and trigger from persuasive design were found to be helpful in motivating the students and increasing their ability to actively participate. The students' design suggestions varied from political aspects of taxes to personal services and tax games.