Values-led participatory design

Abstract

The widespread use of participatory design (PD) has meant that different approaches and conceptualisations exist in this field today. In this article, it is argued that one fruitful approach is to rekindle a concern for values in design, focusing upon values as the engine that drives activities in PD. Drawing from the authors‘ own PD projects, this article shows how this can be accomplished: through designers enacting their appreciative judgement of values by engaging in a dynamic and dialogical process of cultivating the emergence of values, developing them and supporting their grounding.

Keywords:

• participatory design
• human values
• appreciative judgement of values

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all stakeholders of the three projects, the Children's Literature Museum, the Interactive School Environment and the Rune Stone Exhibition. This research has been funded by Center for Digital Urban Living (Danish Council for Strategic Research, grant number 09-063245). The writing is also supported by the Research Council's UK Digital Economy Programme, grant no. EP/G066019/1-SIDE: Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy.