research-article

How much participation is enough?: a comparison of six participatory design projects in terms of outcomes

Author:

Jon WhittleAuthors Info & Claims

PDC '14: Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference: Research Papers - Volume 1

Pages 121 - 130

https://doi.org/10.1145/2661435.2661445

Published: 06 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

This paper considers the relationship between depth of participation (i.e., the effort and resources invested in participation) versus (tangible) outcomes. The discussion is based on experiences from six participatory research projects of different sizes and durations all taking place within a two year period and all aiming to develop new digital technologies to address an identified social need. The paper asks the fundamental question: how much participation is enough? That is, it challenges the notion that more participation is necessarily better, and, by using the experience of these six projects, it asks whether a more light touch or 'lean' participatory process can still achieve good outcomes, but at reduced cost. The paper concludes that participatory design researchers could consider 'agile' principles from the software development field as one way to streamline participatory processes.

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Cited By

Joshi STolloczko CWenaas SHolm OLangved M(2024)Investigating How Generative AI Affects Decision-Making in Participatory Design: Shifting the space to make design choicesProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685384(1-14)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685384
Keskinen PFröhlich KSingh PPinomaa AMenon SKumari BMasakapalli SNieminen MDittrich Y(2024)User Participation through WhatsApp – Mobile Instant Messaging as a Medium for Distributed Co-designProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661625(2143-2155)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661625
An QKelley MHanners AYen P(2023)Sustainable Development for Mobile Health Apps Using the Human-Centered Design ProcessJMIR Formative Research10.2196/456947(e45694)Online publication date: 25-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/45694
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Index Terms

How much participation is enough?: a comparison of six participatory design projects in terms of outcomes
1. Human-centered computing

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

PDC '14: Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference: Research Papers - Volume 1

October 2014

178 pages

ISBN:9781450322560

DOI:10.1145/2661435

General Chairs:
Heike Winschiers-Theophilus
Windhoek, Polytechnic of Namibia, Namibia
,
Vincenzo D'Andrea
University of Trento, Italy
,
Program Chair:
Ole Sejer Iversen
Aarhus University, Denmark

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

MTC Namibia: MTC Namibia
NCRST: National Commission on Research Science & Technology
Schoemans: Schoemans Office Systems
PC Centre: PC Centre Namibia
Syntex Technologies: Syntex Technologies (Pty) Ltd
SAIS: Southern Africa Innovation Support programme
Air Namibia: Air Namibia
Green: Green Enterprise Solutions (Pty) Ltd
NBIC: Namibia Business Innovation Centre
Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek: Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek
German Embassy in Windhoek: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Windhoek
CRAN: Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 06 October 2014

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Research-article

Funding Sources

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

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PDC '14

Sponsor:

MTC Namibia
NCRST
Schoemans
PC Centre
Syntex Technologies
SAIS
Air Namibia
Green
NBIC
Embaixada de Portugal em Windhoek
German Embassy in Windhoek
CRAN

PDC '14: Participatory Design Conference

October 6 - 10, 2014

Windhoek, Namibia

Acceptance Rates

PDC '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 17 of 62 submissions, 27%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 49 of 289 submissions, 17%

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Cited By

Joshi STolloczko CWenaas SHolm OLangved M(2024)Investigating How Generative AI Affects Decision-Making in Participatory Design: Shifting the space to make design choicesProceedings of the 13th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3679318.3685384(1-14)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3679318.3685384
Keskinen PFröhlich KSingh PPinomaa AMenon SKumari BMasakapalli SNieminen MDittrich Y(2024)User Participation through WhatsApp – Mobile Instant Messaging as a Medium for Distributed Co-designProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661625(2143-2155)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3661625
An QKelley MHanners AYen P(2023)Sustainable Development for Mobile Health Apps Using the Human-Centered Design ProcessJMIR Formative Research10.2196/456947(e45694)Online publication date: 25-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/45694
Till SMkhize MFarao JShandu LMuthelo LColeman TMbombi MBopape MKlingberg Svan Heerden AMothiba TDensmore MVerdezoto Dias N(2023)Digital Health Technologies for Maternal and Child Health in Africa and Other Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Cross-disciplinary Scoping Review With Stakeholder ConsultationJournal of Medical Internet Research10.2196/4216125(e42161)Online publication date: 7-Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.2196/42161
Jaffe JLoebach J(2023)Fostering Youth-Enabling Environments: A Participatory Affordance-Capability Framework for the Development and Use of Youth-Engaged Environmental AssessmentsYouth & Society10.1177/0044118X22114571356:1(164-192)Online publication date: 18-Jan-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X221145713
Willmott THurley ERundle-Thiele S(2022)Designing energy solutions: a comparison of two participatory design approaches for service innovationJournal of Service Theory and Practice10.1108/JSTP-03-2021-004032:3(353-377)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2022
https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-03-2021-0040
Huff ELucaites KRoberts ABrinkley J(2021)Participatory Design in the Classroom: Exploring the Design of an Autonomous Vehicle Human-Machine Interface with a Visually Impaired Co-DesignerProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/107118132064146364:1(1921-1925)Online publication date: 9-Feb-2021
https://doi.org/10.1177/1071181320641463
Gooch DPrice BKlis-Davies AWebb J(2021)A Design Exploration of Health-Related Community DisplaysProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34491595:CSCW1(1-22)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3449159
Hayes NIntrona LCass N(2021)Participatory Design as the Temporal Flow of Coalescing Participatory LinesComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)10.1007/s10606-021-09405-4Online publication date: 25-Aug-2021
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-021-09405-4
Roccetti MPrandi CMirri SSalomoni P(2020)Designing human-centric software artifacts with future users: a case studyHuman-centric Computing and Information Sciences10.1186/s13673-020-0213-610:1Online publication date: 10-Mar-2020
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13673-020-0213-6
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