The publications and presentations generated by the research project Exploring Participation are outlined below. You may also be interested in the researchers or the references that support this research.
Journal Articles
Costantino, Terry. “Issues of Participation: A Framework for Choices and Compromises.” International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 6.4 (2014): 41-61. doi:10.4018/ijskd.2014100104
This paper appears in the International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development edited by Constance Kampf (Aarhus University, Denmark) and José Abdelnour-Nocera (University of West London, UK). Copyright 2014, IGI Global, www.igi-global.com. Posted by permission of the publisher.
Abstract: Members of the Participatory Design (PD) community often raise concerns about participation – participation in what, by whom, and for what purpose? To help determine and answer questions important to participatory practice, the author derived a framework of key issues of participation using literature from Participatory Design and related practices such as Participatory Action Research, Participatory Democracy and Participatory Development. The key issues are: values, representation, power relations, context, transformations, effectiveness, and sustainability. The author posits that giving attention to these issues when designing, conducting and reflecting on participation will improve participatory practices by making choices and compromises more explicit to those involved in the research as well as those who review the research results. The paper discusses how the author derived the framework and then uses the selected literature to explore each of the seven issues and how they can be addressed in participatory practice in general, and within PD more specifically.
Conference Papers
Costantino, T., LeMay, S., Vizard, L., Moore, H., Renton, D., Gornall, S., & Strang, I. (2014). Exploring participation in the design of public library e-services. In Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference 2014, Windhoek, Namibia. [Peer-reviewed: Short Paper]
Abstract: Public libraries are in crisis-mode trying to figure out their future. One area they are struggling with is their role and relationship to the Internet — their e-services. This study engages public library staff, vendors and members in the redesign of online account management features as a way to look at participation from the perspective of the participants. Bringing together concerns, ideas and methodologies from the fields of librarianship, education, and Participatory Design, this study uses a Participatory Action Research approach to explore what we mean by participation and to identify barriers to achieving our ideal vision of participation.
Costantino, T., LeMay, S., Vizard, L., Moore, H., Renton, D., Gornall, S., & Strang, I. (2014) Participatory design of public library e-services. In Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference 2014, Windhoek, Namibia. [Peer-reviewed: Industry Case]
Abstract: Public libraries are in crisis-mode trying to figure out their future. One area they are struggling with is their role and relationship to the Internet — their e-services. This study engages public library staff and vendors in the redesign of online account management features as a way to explore participation from the perspective of the participants. Grounded in our experience, we explore what we mean by participation and identify barriers to achieving our ideal vision of participation. Mid-way through the project, we have begun to grapple with fundamental questions about participation and design and have identified some concerns we have, personally and organizationally, about involving library members in productive design activities, beyond their inclusion in generative and evaluative activities.
Presentations
Renton, D. and Costantino, T., Managing Digital Projects: Staff, Vendors, Stakeholders and Library Members, Ontario Libraries Association Super Conference 2015, Toronto, Canada