Participatory Design in Women’s Organizations: The Social World of Organizational Structure and the Gendered Nature of Expertise

Participatory design is an approach to designing technological systems that differs from traditional approaches to design in many respects. The goal of participatory design is to encourage users of technological systems to actively participate in the process of designing technological systems. The end goal of participatory design is to enable users of technological systems to articulate their needs, and to develop technological systems that account for those needs. In this paper I attempt to extend the analysis of gender as a factor in participatory design initiative by focusing on the challenges of implementing participatory design in the context of non-profit women’s organizations. The context for my discussion is set by outlining a recent initiative to design a nationwide feminist computer network in Canada. Scholarship on participatory design, feminist organizing and the implementation of computer systems in non-profit organizations is discussed in relation to original research carried out in the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Organizational structures that differentiate feminist non-profit organizations from other organizational forms and the gendered nature of expertise are identified as particular challenges that must be addressed in order for participatory design to be successful when women’s groups are the participatory designers.     

Expectation changes and team characteristics in a participatory design process

A human factors specialist researched the expectations of a culturally and professionally diverse team throughout a year long participatory design process of a large processing facility. For a deeper understanding of high-level team expectations and characteristics, the specialist collected data and information through in-situ ethnography and traditional case study methods, personal interviews, and a questionnaire that included a likert scale rating for expectation levels. Results found that expectation levels rated extremely satisfied for individual team members and the overall team itself before and during the participatory process. In contrast, expectations for upper management from the team were satisfied before the participatory process, but changed to uncertain, to unsatisfied, to extremely unsatisfied during the process. Additionally, the participatory design team exhibited high-level team characteristics to include honesty, competence, commitment, communication, creativity, and clear expectations.     

Participatory ergonomic intervention for prevention of low back pain: assembly line redesign case

This paper gives an overview of a participatory ergonomic intervention aimed at reducing low back pain cases in the dispatch department of a catalogue and e-commerce retail company. Based on the findings of the ergonomic analysis and design committee, the company's own employees redesigned the assembly line's layout. As a result of these changes two job tasks that involved manual material handling of boxes, identified by the revised NIOSH equation as posing an increased risk for lifting-related low back pain, were totally eliminated, and the employees responsible for moving boxes from the end of the assembly line to pallets on the ground were given more control over their jobs, and these jobs were also enriched with a new, less heavy task. These results demonstrate that participatory ergonomic interventions are a viable and effective strategy to reduce the exposure to work-related physical and psychosocial risk factors for low back pain.     

Designing the safety of healthcare. Participation of ergonomics to the design of cooperative systems in radiotherapy

This communication deals with the involvement of ergonomists in a research-action design process of a software platform in radiotherapy. The goal of the design project is to enhance patient safety by designing a workflow software that supports cooperation between professionals producing treatment in radiotherapy. The general framework of our approach is the ergonomics management of a design process, which is based in activity analysis and grounded in participatory design. Two fields are concerned by the present action: a design environment which is a participatory design process that involves software designers, caregivers as future users and ergonomists; and a reference real work setting in radiotherapy. Observations, semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops allow the characterization of activity in radiotherapy dealing with uses of cooperative tools, sources of variability and non-ruled strategies to manage the variability of the situations. This production of knowledge about work searches to enhance the articulation between technocentric and anthropocentric approaches, and helps in clarifying design requirements. An issue of this research-action is to develop a framework to define the parameters of the workflow tool, and the conditions of its deployment.     

Reflecting on participatory methodologies: research with parents of babies requiring neonatal care

This article concerns a study that examines the attitudes of parents, who have had babies in neonatal care, to sharing their babies’ routinely collected health data for research purposes. A participatory methodology was applied to the design of the study; a group of eleven parents who had all previously had babies in neonatal care were involved in designing a large-scale questionnaire survey. The article addresses the rationale for taking this approach, highlighting how it differs from the more common models of patient and public involvement. It presents the five themes that emerged from parents’ discussion in the course of engaging in the questionnaire design: legitimation, expertise, experiential knowledge, a different epistemology, power and control. How these shaped the design of the survey is employed in this article as a means of providing a commentary on the participatory research process itself. The article concludes by reflecting on whether participatory research can achieve its aims of promoting social justice when used for instrumental purposes such as the refinement of a data collection tool.     

What do we mean by Human-Centered Design of Life-Critical Systems?

Human-centered design is not a new approach to design. Aerospace is a good example of a life-critical systems domain where participatory design was fully integrated, involving experimental test pilots and design engineers as well as many other actors of the aerospace engineering community. This paper provides six topics that are currently part of the requirements of the Ph.D. Program in Human-Centered Design of the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT.) This Human-Centered Design program offers principles, methods and tools that support human-centered sustainable products such as mission or process control environments, cockpits and hospital operating rooms. It supports education and training of design thinkers who are natural leaders, and understand complex relationships among technology, organizations and people. We all need to understand what we want to do with technology, how we should organize ourselves to a better life and finally find out whom we are and have become. Human-centered design is being developed for all these reasons and issues.     

Effects of a participatory ergonomics intervention computer workshop for university students: a pilot intervention to prevent disability in tomorrow's workers

A participatory approach was used to create a computer ergonomics workshop for college students, incorporating an instructional systems design process and adult learning inquiry perspectives. The primary objective of this participatory ergonomic pilot intervention was to involve students throughout the training design process in solving computer workstation ergonomic problems and adopting healthy computing behaviors. Students' level of participation included becoming part of the training design team, a co-facilitator, or a student trainee. A second objective was to examine the translation of an industrial office ergonomics training program into a college computer ergonomics training program. The long term goal was to reduce upper extremity symptoms and disability. The program was piloted at one private university. The three student trainees significantly increased their knowledge of computer ergonomics from 69% of test items answered correctly pre-training to 82% post-training. Trainees were also successful in conducting computer ergonomic evaluations of students' computing work areas. They achieved 100% accuracy in identifying ergonomic problems and proposing solutions in five ergonomic workstation assessments in the field. This approach was successful in creating a sense of ownership among the student developers and facilitators as reflected in their self-reports during a post-intervention debriefing. The results of this pilot study justify formal controlled trials of this intervention in university students, who will become tomorrow's workers.     

Participatory ergonomics intervention in a sterile processing center: a case study

The following case study describes an ergonomics intervention program, designed and implemented by an occupational therapist (OT), which included principles of participatory ergonomics, had full support of management and administration, and addressed the work, worker, and environment. The ergonomics program took place in the Sterile Processing Center (SPC) of a 398 bed, mid-western hospital. The SPC was responsible for the collection, sterilization, and reassembling of hospital surgical equipment. The 30 employees of the SPC were vulnerable to injury, having experienced 19 in only two years (of the 19 injuries, 9 were WMSD or ergonomics-related injuries). Over a two and a half year period, the OT and SPC manager conducted ergonomic evaluations, implemented employee training, designed a new SPC department, and modified work processes and equipment. In the year following the training and changes, the SPC staff experienced no injuries. Because of it's success, the program is continuing on a quarterly basis to ensure new problems are addressed quickly, new processes or equipment are evaluated, and new staff are properly trained.     

Managing expectations in participatory research involving older people: what’s in it for whom?

Participatory research actively engages participants in some or all stages of the research process – from deciding on scope and problem statement to actively collecting data to disseminating results and effecting change. Considering the shifting roles of participants and researchers in participatory ageing research, to the academic, participatory research becomes a venture into project and people management, local politics, consultancy and community building. First, we present a literature overview of the promises and pitfalls of participatory research. Then, drawing on a university initiated participatory study involving older people as co-researchers in a neighbourhood in Groningen, the Netherlands, we discuss the shifting roles and expectations of all of those involved in the participatory research process. We conclude that a central question that requires continuous negotiation in the participatory research process is: what’s in in for whom?     

Boundary dimensions of social innovation: negotiating conflicts and compatibilities when developing a national agenda

In order to add to the existing knowledge on the complex institutional dynamics of negotiating conflicts and compatibilities in innovation processes that address societal challenges and social needs, this article scrutinizes the scientific and societal debate on the theoretical and practical application of “social innovation” by means of the concept “boundary object” linked to institutional theory. A participatory case study of the development of an R&I agenda for social innovation in Sweden, formulated through dialog between stakeholders from the public, private and non-profit sectors, is presented. The results show that the unpredictable, emergent, evolving and adaptable character of needs, challenges and solutions in social innovation processes is made more theoretically and practically manageable by acknowledging social innovation as a boundary object. This is since this concept, despite its ambiguous character, helps balance complexity and usefulness in a way that serves to expand existing knowledge on institutional dynamics.     

Participatory action research: Easier said than done

This article describes participatory action research as an alternative methodology for conducting community needs assessment. The research model empowers individuals by recognizing they have the ability to identify their own needs, and to generate practical long lasting solutions (Rappaport, 1981). A case study is presented in which two community members attempted a participatory community needs assessment. The article concludes with a discussion of how this attempt deviated from the ideal participatory action research model, and the consequences of the compromises made during the research process.     

Democracy to become reality: Participatory planning through action research

Different approaches in participatory planning stem from argumentation that stresses a certain model of democracy. While each model promotes participatory conditions, they do not always become reality. The needs of today's communities and the complex political system require a different approach for participatory planning to operate in a democratic way. This paper argues that five conditions are salient and illustrates the empirical consequences of this position by using the experiences of participatory movement in Kocaeli, Turkey, where the history of democratization goes back to 30 years, and furthermore enters a new phase with the recent participatory planning intervention conducted with an Action Research (AR) strategy. Research shows that the past participatory planning attempts and civil movements in Kocaeli fostered two conditions including active citizen participation and enabling mechanisms for this. Given this ground, the recent participatory planning intervention conducted through AR led to change towards a democratic society by applying the other three conditions of democracy: taking a position in the process of formulating livable agreement, enhancing effective participation of stakeholders of diverse interests, and translating thoughts into action.     

Ergonomics and sustainability in the design of everyday use products

The relationship between Ergonomics and Design is a key element in the sustainability project, as well as in many other areas of experimental design. In the Design for Sustainability field, Ergonomics is a strategic factor for design culture innovation, providing designers with the necessary knowledge and skills regarding human characteristics and capabilities, as well as user needs and desires during use and interaction with products in work activities and everyday life. Ergonomics is also a strategic innovative factor in design development and manufacturing processes. In fact, ergonomics provides a methodological approach in user-product interaction evaluation processes through the use of participatory design and survey methods, user trials, direct observation, savings and resource conservation, etc.On the other hand, design offers solutions able to interpret user needs and expectations, at the same time suggesting new behaviors and lifestyles.In Design for Sustainability, the ergonomic and user-centered approach contributes greatly to lifestyles and innovative use of products--making it possible to understand and interpret real people needs and expectations in their everyday actions and behavior.New consumption patterns, new awareness of lifestyles, energy source consumption, purchasing methods and consumption style etc. can be supported by design innovation, responding to expressed and unexpressed user needs. With this in mind, the ergonomic approach represents the starting point for design choices and at the same time, a tool for assessing their appropriateness and effectiveness.     

Innovation and design approaches within prospective ergonomics

In this conceptual article the topic of "Prospective Ergonomics" will be discussed within the context of innovation, design thinking and design processes & methods. Design thinking is essentially a human-centred innovation process that emphasises observation, collaboration, interpretation, visualisation of ideas, rapid concept prototyping and concurrent business analysis, which ultimately influences innovation and business strategy. The objective of this project is to develop a roadmap for innovation, involving consumers, designers and business people in an integrative process, which can be applied to product, service and business design. A theoretical structure comprising of Innovation perspectives (1), Worldviews supported by rationalist-historicist and empirical-idealistic dimensions (2) and Models of "design" reasoning (3) precedes the development and classification of existing methods as well as the introduction of new ones.     

Making Connections: Community Organizing,Empowerment Planning,and Participatory Research in Participatory Evaluation

This article shows the intersections of participatory research, popular education, empowerment planning, and community organizing with participatory evaluation. It argues that a truly successful participatory evaluation involves participants in guiding and even conducting the research, doing a process of self- and program study, creating plans for change, and organizing themselves for implementing these plans. Next, the chapter shows how these elements played out in a participatory evaluation of a community organizing training and technical assistance project in Toledo, Ohio. The first year of the project was facilitated by participatory evaluation that helped identify early successes and problems so participants could make programmatic changes early in the process. The telling of the story also develops practices of participatory evaluation, including planning the evaluation, doing the research and adapting it to changing conditions, uncovering creative tensions, participatory validity checking, and linking the process to planning and action. The chapter concludes with some lessons for participatory evaluation practice.     

Communication of results and utilization in participatory program evaluation

This paper explores the linkages between utilization and stakeholder participation in the evaluation process, specifically in the communication of results phase of evaluation. It is argued that key elements of a participatory evaluation process can be linked to meaningful and multiple forms of results utilization through cognitive and political uses of the evaluation process. Data from two small-scale participatory evaluations are used to support this argument.     

Understanding the collaborative-participatory design

In this study, the role of collaboration in design is discussed, placing emphasis on how to include end-users in the development process. The study is based on a literature review focusing on aspects of collaboration in design, usability and human factors. Thereby, it introduces, compares and contrasts the characteristics of both collaborative and user-centered design perspectives, leading to the collaborative-participatory design approach. Finally, the advantages, disadvantages and precautions of implementing collaborative and participatory models are pointed out.     

Notice bibliographique

Multinational firms, innovation and productivity. Livres récents: Children of the 21st century. From birth to nine months. Gender mainstreaming ‐ an innovation in Europe? The institutionalisation of gender mainstreaming in the European Commission The labour movement in Pakistan: Organization and leadership in Karachi in the 1970s Nouvelles publications du BIT: Civil society, participatory governance and decent work objectives: The case of South Africa Social protection and inclusion: Experiences and policy issues The new offshoring of jobs and global development Winners or losers? Liberalizing public services     

The Participation of Civil Society Organizations in Public Policies in Latin America

Throughout Latin America, the relationship between government and civil society organizations (CSOs) has been characterized by opposition, substitution, and submission; and, the incipient path to cooperation is barely noticeable. For their part, participatory public policies make sense within a theory of democratic governance. Democratic governance seeks two propositions: (a) participation from other social actors will give rise to more efficient government action; and (b) citizen support will emerge from the said government action. This paper criticizes the current relationships between the governments and CSOs in this region. In addition, it explores the potential strategies that could be adopted were there a cooperation between these two entities. The paper is supported by theoretical literature as well as by a revision of some cases of participatory public policies that are currently active in the region. The paper proposes that the strategies of opposition to government and government substitution have to be abandoned in this region. The paper focuses on civil organizations (CSOs). It is true that they do not constitute the entirety of civil society; however, they are frequently the most organized compared with other civic actors, such as social movements, families, and individual initiatives. CSOs form only a part of the diversity known as civil society; however, they significantly contribute to the discussion about the public good, and very often they participate in providing such goods. The future of participatory democracy in Latin America is related to our ability to achieve a more complete participation of CSOs in the entire process of participatory public policies—from the formation of public agendas to their design, implementation, and evaluation.