DESIGNERS IN CONTEMPORARY PARTICIPATORY DESIGN: PRACTICES AND AGENDAS

Abstract

Over the last four decades, Participatory Design (PD) gained traction in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) communities around the world. The approach presents alternatives in attempts to design with persons, and not only for them, in the form of techniques and design practices. Many contemporary PD researchers seek to turn the approach towards designing for democracy and empowerment of partner groups, contrary to PD practices which simply focus on the production of artifacts. Countering technocratic trends, researchers around the world seek to revitalize the discipline by proposing and promoting alternative research agendas, towards a critical and politically engaged discipline. Designers present themselves as actors and actresses in these processes, and understanding how they operate can inform future work on how design practices can promote empowerment despite the power gap between partners and designers. Perspectives from Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies informs critical theories to approach thinking of the designer’s role, agency, and responsibilities that go beyond the production of artifacts, including ethical, political, and technological concerns, the last one being comprehended in a non-deterministic way and encompass activities beyond the design of artifacts. This paper explores works from the 2018 Participatory Design Conference (PDC), seeking state-of-the-art on how researchers perceive themselves in their practices, using STS studies and Cr, and proposes a set of suggestions on how to plan situated participation.