Participatory Design Conference Aug 12-16
The 12th biennial Participatory Design Conference (PDC) takes place at Roskilde University August 12-16 and the theme is: Embracing New Territories of Participation.
With firm roots in the original Participatory Design focus on involving people in the introduction of technology into their work, the theme of the next PDC conference invites us to explore traditional fields of participatory design as well as emerging areas, field, arenas and forms of participation.
Skilled workers are still participating in design processes aiming at developing tools for quality of working life, but designing for everyday life poses new challenges for the way participation is practiced and understood. Today we are designing engaging experiences not only through participation but also for participation.
New ‘Do-It-Yourself’ technologies change the way we perceive the end-user in the design process and the availability of open source software and hardware tools kits such as electronics prototyping platform enable people to produce their own applications, and thereby extend the design process into use. What we used to understand as end-users become designers hereby dissolving the boundaries between use and designing, and challenges our general understanding of users as participants in the design process.
By deliberately embracing new territories we invite you not only to explore traditional fields of participatory design but also address what participation could offer in the broad and expanding design contexts.
Read more: pdc2012.org