From Utopia to DLK - Management of External Voices in Large Participatory Design Projects

Abstract

There is a need to extend Participatory design in order to apply it in heterogeneous user groups and large projects of strategic importance for organizations. This study displays an approach to capturing and including relevant external design voices using data from the design of an information system aimed to support the day-to-day tasks of Swedish shop stewards. It was found that shop stewards often use an operative voice, middle level union ombudsmen an organizational voice, and union federation management an ideological one when relating to information technology. An Activity theory analysis showed that the union organization stands at a crossroads, and that the choice of information technology will directly influence the future direction to be taken. It is argued that all parties in a design process must therefore be heard, in order to arrive at system solutions that are actually implemented, used and administrated.