Participatory Design 2004
Call For Participation
the eighth biennial
Participatory Design Conference
Interweaving Media, Materials and Practices
July 27 -31, 2004 - Toronto, Canada
In cooperation with the ACM and IFIP (pending)
Held immediately before DIS 2004
Participatory Design (PD) is a diverse collection of principles and practices aimed at making technologies and social institutions more responsive to human needs. A central tenet of PD is the direct involvement of people in the co-design of the systems they use.
The Participatory Design Conferences, held every two years since 1990, have brought together a multidisciplinary and international group of software developers, researchers, social scientists, designers, activists, practitioners, users, citizens, cultural workers and managers who adopt distinctively participatory approaches in the development of information and communication artifacts, systems, services and technology.
Participatory design approaches have been used in traditional application domains (such as computer systems for business, health care and governmental) and are also relevant in emerging areas such as web-portal design, e-government services, community networks, enterprise resource planning, public (and other) CSCW (computer supported cooperative work) systems, social administration & community development, university/community partnerships, tele-health, communities of practice and political deliberation/mobilization (e-democracy), digital arts and design, scholarship and teaching with mediated technologies (e-learning) and the experience of a sense of place (Environmental Psychology) cultural production and cultural institutions. We further welcome submissions that explore the relationship between PD approaches and the design of ICT (information and communication technology)infrastructures like open source projects, standards, protocols, new media, policy, broadband and WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) networks and the like, and how in turn they may enable and constrain the possibilities for participation.
Participatory designers of ICT-applications may learn from, and, hopefully contribute to, work in other fields, such as community and organizational development, architecture, urban planning, policy development, media, design and art, especially insofar as these fields increasingly use ICTs.
Participatory design approaches can be applied in various social settings such as local communities, government agencies, civil society, NGOs, schools and universities, companies, trade unions, etc. each with its own distinctive stakeholder arenas and power relations.
The overall theme of the 2004 conference, "Artful Integration: Interweaving Media, Materials and Practices" describes a central reality of participatory design. It recognizes that an essential ingredient in design practice is the working together of multiple, heterogeneous elements. Whereas conventional design approaches emphasize the role of the designer and the creation of singular 'things', artful integration calls attention to the collective interweaving of people, artifacts and processes to achieve practical, aesthetic or emancipatory syntheses. The conference will include the inauguration of the "Artful Integrators Award" for exemplary work in participatory design.
We invite contributions on all aspects of participatory design, especially those that address concerns discussed above. Share your artful integrations with the broader community!
Last updated on: 16.07.2004
Created before October 2004